NO sooner had Gordon Strachan drafted Callum McGregor into his Scotland squad for their final Russia 2018 qualifiers against Slovakia and Slovenia on Saturday night and his mobile phone had beeped.

It was a message from Brendan Rodgers endorsing the decision to hand his Celtic midfielder what many believe is a long overdue call-up to the national team and informing his counterpart he could rely on his new recruit despite his lack of international experience.

“Brendan texted me at the weekend just after I brought Callum in and told me ‘he will never let you down’,” said Strachan after overseeing a training session at Hampden yesterday.

“I understand that. Just because he hasn’t been in the initial squad, that doesn’t mean he can’t be involved. He has been in and out of the Celtic team, but when he gets in he scores.”

It is highly doubtful that McGregor – who has, despite scoring two goals in the 2-2 draw with Hibernian at Parkhead on Saturday, not been a regular starter at club level this season – will be involved with Scotland from kick-off at Hampden on Thursday night.

The likes of Barry Bannan, Darren Fletcher, James McArthur and James Morrison, seasoned professionals who have plied their trade at a high level down south for some time and have represented their country with distinction on many occasions in the past, are far more likely to be given the nod.

Even John McGinn, the Hibs man who also netted a brace at the weekend, could have a better chance as he has won four caps for his national team since being named Man of the Match on his debut against Denmark last year.

However, having an uncapped player who has just been brought in pushing hard feature in such an important fixture – Scotland need to prevail in order to keep alive their chances of finishing runners-up in their section and booking a play-off spot – is no bad thing for Strachan given the circumstances.

The losses of both Stuart Armstrong and Scott Brown and to a lesser extent Matt Ritchie to injuries are, no two ways about it, setbacks, but the manager still has intense competition for places in his squad and will have a couple of difficult decisions to make when he chooses his side.

“Barry Bannan comes bouncing in here,” he said. “His performances have been as good as anybody’s, he’s probably been the best midfielder in the Championship. I think he got voted into the Championship Team of the Year last year. And I think he is actually playing better this year. So I keep an eye on him.”

Darren Fletcher, too, is a strong contender to start in place of Brown in central midfield. The 78 times capped Stoke City player has continued to turn up for squads without complaint despite losing his place in the side. Strachan is, despite not picking him in recent matches, an admirer.

He said: “It would be easy for Darren at his age, and he is not old, to say ‘right, I didn’t get a game in the last couple, I’ll call it a day’. But he turns up again and again.”

Strachan, whose side has won three and drawn one of their last four matches, is conscious of not asking whoever comes in to the Scotland side to perform the same roles as Armstrong, who played just off lone striker Griffiths in the last two games, or Brown, who has been deployed as one of the deep-lying midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation, against Slovakia.

“You need to have a system where the players know that it’s all about the way they play rather than trying to fill in for someone who couldn’t be there. You don’t want them trying to imitate someone.”