Liverpool wonderkid Ben Doak is out of Scotland's squad for the European Under 17s Finals in Israel next month and manager Brian McLaughlin admitted it's a big blow for his young Scots.
The Celtic right winger has signed for the Anfield giants for next season after deciding to quit the Hoops, who handed him his debut this season.
Scotland are the only British nation to have qualified for the Finals with Doak playing a huge part in the Under 17s qualifying for the tournament, along with Rangers striker Rory Wilson. McLaughlin named his squad on Thursday.
But Doak will miss out with a groin strain and McLaughlin revealed the 16-year-old is gutted to be unable to play in the tournament, where Scotland face Portugal on May 17, Denmark on May 20 and Sweden on May 23.
He said: "We're obviously disappointed that he's not there, but he's carrying a slight injury and if any of these young boys have got injuries, we don't take chances with any player of that age and we never will.
"I'm really disappointed for him because his attitude since I first got to know and work with him in June has been terrific. It would have been good to see him play against the very best in Europe, but he'll just need to recover from his injury, continue to train the way he trains and he will get other chances to play against the best at another time.
"It's not a serious injury. It's one of those injuries that with the number of games and playing on hard surfaces in that type of weather in Israel wouldn't have helped him. We won't take a chance on any young player.
"But the good thing for me is that I have got to know him, he's played seven or eight international games, hopefully, we have established a connection and the big push for Ben now will be to get fit and keep the great attitude he has and keep progressing.
"Hopefully, he will eventually push on to the Under 19s with Billy Stark and the Under 21s with Scot Gemmill and ultimately, develop towards playing for Steve Clarke. He just needs to recover from this setback."
And McLaughlin believes he will thrive when he moves down south.
He said: "Firstly, Celtic did a great job in developing him and I presume they wanted to keep him. The last time we were away as soon as he got onto the training ground, he just trained hard and then when he went on to the pitch, despite all the rumours that were going about at the time, he just got on with it.
"Ben just wants to become an international football player and he's great to work with.
"As soon as I got to know him, I asked him if he wanted to become a better player and the answer was always the same - that he wanted to get to the very top.
"He never spoke about Liverpool, he never spoke about Celtic. Ben was quite clear, he only wanted to train and he said he wanted to do everything to become an international footballer.
"It's not a blow for me, it's a blow for the boy because I know he wanted to go and play at that top level against the very, very best in Europe.
"We will be in the tournament with all these future Champions League players and Ben wants to be one too.
"In terms of the team, if one player goes out, it's an opportunity for another player. It's up to all of them to go there to become better players because that's why we are going.
"We are going there to get extra training, get new experiences and become better players.
"Ben Doak is a unique talent and I'm not going to try and replace him. But whoever comes in instead of him will get great experience at this level."
