Leeds United: Scotland won’t offer Archie Gray Euro 2024 squad place
Scotland boss Steve Clarke has ruled out the possibility of Leeds United star Archie Gray being called up to the squad for Euro 2024.
The Tartan Army have been linked with a host of England youth internationals that are also eligible to play for Scotland as a way of bolstering their squad ahead of the tournament.
18-year-old Gray is someone who is eligible through his family, along with Newcastle players Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes, Elliott Anderson and Tino Livramento but Clarke has admitted he would be “very surprised” if any of those players made it into the final squad.
“I’d be very surprised if somebody comes out from nowhere. Unless we find somebody who’s like, ‘Wow’ — an outstanding player,” he said, as quoted by The Sun (19 March).
“I am not going to go down this street of Anderson and Gordon and all this lot because I’ve had enough of that. I am sick of talking about that.”
Leeds United: No rush for Archie Gray to pick a team
England are by far and away one of the very best national teams around right now, and Gray has already been namechecked by the current manager Gareth Southgate as a potential future option.
Having only just turned 18-years-old there is absolutely no rush for Gray to commit himself to one team right now, especially when there is a considerable gap in quality between the two.
Junior Firpo has only just committed himself to the Dominican Republic after holding out for Spain, and Gray will no doubt make it to England selection in the coming years if he continues this trajectory.
There would be some romance to his decision to play for Scotland because of his family ties, but considering he has represented England at youth level already he clearly sees himself as English.
He will get more opportunities to play at international tournaments in the future, and if it’s with England he will have even more chance of winning them too. This is a good thing for everyone involved.
In other Leeds news, one Whites star refused to speak to his teammate after the 2-0 win over Millwall.
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