Lee Johnson reckons Josh Campbell is the one that 'sticks out' in terms of landing a Scotland call-up for his red-hot form at Easter Road.
The midfielder has started to show his quality week in, week out for the capital club and become a real composed figure on the park and is starting to add an end product. He recently scored a hat-trick in a thumping win over Aberdeen and provided two assists in the same game to take his season tally to 13 goal involvements in total. His club boss knows that Steve Clarke has real quality at his disposal in that area of the park but reckons his man is ready to step up.
Kevin Nisbet is another who he believes should be knocking back on the door as he returns to full fitness once again after a minor knock. He found his real goal-scoring touch after a lengthy absence and is ready to kick on again. Mikey Devlin - previously capped by the Dark Blues - is another who Johnson is backing to get back to where he was before. He just needs to trust his body and put a run of consistent games and form together.
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Clarke is due to name his Scotland squad next month with games against Cyprus and Spain to come as the Euro qualifying bid kicks off with a Hampden double-header. He told Edinburgh Evening News: “He’s one [Campbell] that sticks out in my mind, in terms of international recognition. I know there’s quality in that squad, and it’s not easy to break into, but I feel like he’s ready to make that step.
“I think he is one who is starting to show signs in terms of composure and end product – his fitness has never been in doubt. His goals return has been good this year and I think that will continue. Now it’s about the intelligence of receiving the ball in tight areas and having the composure to slow down the mind’s eye, of which I have seen vast improvement over the last month. I feel like he is in that phase where I hope he is being watched on a regular basis for that senior call-up.”
On new recruit Devlin, he added: “Certainly quality-wise, when you see Mikey’s ability to slow down the mind’s eye, to be composed, and calm. All his defending decisions are very good and you can see that, whether it is in small sided games or when it opens up on a big pitch. He’s a really good communicator so I don’t think anything is out of the realms, he just needs to learn to trust his body.
“When you can tick off little markers, like one or two games on the spin, three games in a week, six games in a month, a good pre-season, you start to get consistency. All of those things lead to more consistency and absolutely he can get back to where he was and therefore being in and around Scotland squads.”
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