Scotland to "scour" for more Che Adams style upgrades before Euros

Adams may only have claimed two caps, and one goal – a sumptuous finish in the midweek 4-0 win over the Faroe Islands – since declaring for the nation last month. Yet, already the Southampton striker appears a stick-on to lead the line for Scotland in the summer finals because he possesses talents that take the country’s frontline options up a notch.

Carver suggests there could be others in that bracket as a major tournament comes into view and that Scotland management will be open to bringing such players into the set-up.

“That is what you look to do, get better all the time,” said the former Newcastle United interim manager. “Even when you think you have cracked it, there is still room for improvement and I certainly think he helped the squad. I think there were a lot of upgrades in the squad without going into too many details. But Che is a quality footballer and it was great to see him get his goal against the Faroes. And what a super goal it was.

“We want all the players to improve, we want upgrades. We have to keep driving this because we want the best, so we are scouring for players that get us where we want to be. I know the manager talked about it but the more this group of players play together and qualify for tournaments and play in tournaments they can only get better and stronger. Che was certainly a massive boost but lets not forget the guys who got us there. There is still opportunity for them, we are not writing them off yet – we will monitor them every game they play.”

Carver could take encouragement from the growing authority that such as Kieran Tierney – “a thoroughbred” – John McGinn, Scott McTominay and Ryan Fraser, the wide man now boasting three goals from his past three Scotland outings. As a man who bleeds black and white, Fraser’s effervence in the international domain gave Carver particularly satisfaction ahead of the former Aberdeen man being plunged back into Newcastle United’s struggle to avoid demotion from the English top flight.

“It's amazing when you see the transformation in Ryan when he comes away with the national squad,” he said. “Sometimes players get a bit of relief when they come away with us because they've been under so much pressure. Because Ryan plays at my club, we have a good relationship. We talk about things at Newcastle. He's had one or two issues with injuries but it was great to see him come up here and look in great form. He scored three goals in three games but it was more about his contribution for the team, with him playing a number of positions. And that will be vital for Newcastle in the run-in. I'm hoping he takes that confidence that's been developed with Scotland back to his club football. I hope all the players do that.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.