Scotland and England in battle for Newcastle’s Elliot Anderson; England boss Gareth Southgate: “We liked him and we do like him. We think he’s a player that’s doing really well”; Scotland boss Steve Clarke: “We like the player as well so Elliot will still have that choice to make” Scotland manager Steve Clarke confirmed his continued interest in capping Elliot Anderson and refused to rule out a move for Harvey Barnes after Tuesday’s friendly against England. Whitley Bay-born Anderson has played for Scotland at youth level but is still eligible to play for England.
The Newcastle midfielder, 20, spent two days with Scotland last week before leaving the club. Since then, England boss Gareth Southgate has expressed his appreciation for the player and promised that his backroom staff will take the matter up.
“We liked him and we still like him,” said Southgate. We believe he is a player who is succeeding greatly.
He was obviously summoned into the Scotland squad earlier this week, but I’m not sure of his current status. I observed him being removed.
During his pre-match press conference prior to Scotland’s friendly match against England, Clarke said, “Let’s see, that’s something that [FA technical director] John (McDermott) and others at our organization will be picking up. He’s definitely a player we like.
“When I leave this camp, I’m going to look at what we did, what we had, what happened during this camp. We’re going to do a debrief on it, and then we’re going to shape what we do from there.”Barnes, a teammate of Anderson’s at Newcastle, is said to be pondering switching allegiances after making one appearance for England in a friendly victory over Wales three years ago.
Clarke responded to a question regarding Barnes by saying: “Probably the same comment, to consider that after.
“We want to sign the greatest players we can find. If they are qualified to represent Scotland, have the opportunity to play for us, and can help me strengthen my squad, which is not always simple to accomplish…
“And I understand the entire backstory because you want to talk about Elliot and Harvey since we are playing England.
I enjoy talking about my guys because they have helped us get into a great position and they merit a lot of credit for that.
Scotland shouldn’t be concerned,
Because this Scotland team is on the rise, if a player doesn’t want to represent Scotland, they shouldn’t.
“Don’t bother if you don’t want to go along for the journey.
“That’s OK because Scotland will travel to Germany, and you can completely understand if someone feels uneasy or doesn’t want to play. That is an individual choice.But because Scotland has Scott McTominay, who is performing so well for Scotland, I don’t believe Steve Clarke will be that concerned. We are aware of his significance in this campaign because of his prolific goal scoring.
He was a man who was not Scottish by birth but is unquestionably Scottish. Even if he doesn’t play much for Man Utd, you can tell that he wants to be here and be a part of the club when he puts on the Scotland jersey. He is Scotland’s guy in form.
“Clarke will be really chill. Do not play if someone does not want to. Scotland shouldn’t be terribly alarmed. Good luck to him if Gareth Southgate chooses him, and keep going.
Southgate downplays any ties to Ferguson
Southgate, however, denied reports that England is still interested in Republic of Ireland forward Evan Ferguson.
Southgate said of the Brighton attacker, who was born in Bettystown but has an English mother, “I think he’s played too many games at senior level.”
He currently has eight caps. I’m not precisely sure whether he can, but I believe he has made it pretty obvious that he believes he was born in Ireland and has represented them, and I would wholeheartedly support that. He plays the game bloody well. He must be respected; I don’t believe he has given us any indication to the contrary.
Erling Haaland, who was born in Yorkshire, caught our attention at the same time, and we wished he might have been accessible as well. However, Harry Kane, our very happy number nine, is a pretty excellent one.
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