Glasgow Rangers central midfielder Connor Barron was given the call-up to meet up with the senior Scotland squad this week, after starting the international break with the U21 side.
The former Aberdeen ace has had the chance to show Steve Clarke what he is about with a view to potentially earning another call-up in the November break.
One young star who had already been involved in the squad from the start, however, is winger Ben Doak, who is currently on loan at Middlesbrough from Liverpool.
Clarke has given the 18-year-old starlet a chance to showcase his talent on the international stage at such a young age, and picked him from the start against Croatia.
Ben Doak's performance against Croatia in numbers
The teenage whiz, who has scored one goal in five Championship games this season, was selected to start on the right of the front three for Scotland.
His team went on to lose the game 2-1 but the young winger was heavily involved in the opening goal. He beat his man with a quick step-over and cut inside to whip a cross in to the far post, which was then poorly cleared into the path of Ryan Christie to score.
Appearances
77
Goals
0
Assists
0
Dribbles completed
2/3
Duels won
4/9
As you can see in the table above, Doak completed two of his three attempted dribbles and held his own in his physical duels, but did not contribute directly with a goal or an assist, despite his cross essentially creating Scotland’s goal.
His performance was an example of what can happen when you place faith in young and inexperienced players, and Philippe Clement could find his own version of Doak by unleashing Zak Lovelace.
Rangers' very own Ben Doak
The 18-year-old forward recently returned from a long-term injury to land an assist against Clyde for the B team and has been on the bench for both of the club’s Europa League games this season.
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He missed 320 days through two hamstring injuries but is now back and seemingly in first-team contention, as shown by his inclusion on the bench in Europe.
Prior to his injury woes, Lovelace had made four first-team appearances for Rangers and had been on fire for the B team since his move from Millwall in 2022.
In the 2022/23 campaign, the winger – who can play on the right or the left flank – racked up a staggering return of 18 goals and ten assists in 35 appearances in all competitions for the academy.
He then scored one goal in three games for the B team and made two appearances for the senior side last season before suffering his almost-year-long injury issues.
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Lovelace, who former sporting director Ross Wilson claimed has “lots of potential”, still has plenty of time on his side to develop into a star for Rangers and Clement should learn from Doak’s Scotland showing by unleashing the teenager from the start for the Gers, to see if he can translate his amazing academy form over to the first-team.
