Greg Stewart has backed Scott Wright to break into Steve Clarke's Scotland set-up after his finding his feet under Giovanni van Bronckhorst at Rangers following a difficult start under the Dutchman.
The Light Blues attacker established himself as a starter by the end of the season and was in the XI that lost out in the Europa League Final in Seville against Bundesliga outfit Frankfurt before he netted in the extra-time win over Hearts at Hampden in the Scottish Cup Final just 72 hours later to end the campaign with a trophy and on a high.
It's those displays for Rangers that ex-Ibrox man Stewart reckons will soon force him into Clarke's international selection. The former Aberdeen and Kilmarnock man believes doing well for the Light Blues means mean you'll get a look in for the national team. Stewart hopes Wright can pick up where he left off last season as he backed him to grab international honours.
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He told the Daily Record: “If you do well for Rangers you’re going to be looked at straight away for the Scotland team. That’s just what happens.
“If you play for Celtic or Rangers and you’re producing the goods consistently it will only be a matter of time before you get that call to join the Scotland squad and hopefully that happens for Scott. When Gio took over the team, he did struggle a wee bit at first.
“But by the end of the season he was a starter. As a player the more appearances you can string together in a row, the more confidence you build. You start to develop a feel-good factor and a bit of belief.
“You start to believe you can actually be a Rangers player and a guy the manager can depend on. Gio managed to give Scott that run of games and it showed in his performances.
“It paid off in the cup final with his goal. Hopefully that’s the start of a big summer for Scotty and he can pick up again where he finished off at Hampden.”
Stewart, who played under Clarke at Kilmarnock, added: “Scotland obviously play with three at the back to ensure they can fit both Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson into the same line-up.
“Steve obviously thinks that system works so he sticks with it.
“But he might be thinking about a change after the last few results and having someone like Scotty in there would give them another option when it comes to providing width higher up. But it’s up to Steve to decide if he changes it or not.”
Stewart - who is gearing up for a second season in India - believes it will be a big campaign for the 24-year-old who needs to improve his number of goals and assists.
He reckons his Hampden strike in the win over Hearts will provide him with a major confidence boost and believes he will become a really good player for Rangers.
He said: “The goal at Hampden will have made Scott feel even better.
“He started in the Europa League final too, so that shows the manager has a lot of confidence in him too.
“Now he needs to think about contributing more with goals and assists. That’s what you need to have as a forward player for Rangers. That’s your job. But I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on this season.
“I’ve known Scott a wee while. He went on loan to Dundee for a few months when I first joined Aberdeen on loan in 2017. But I played with him for a few months when I went back in 2019 on another loan.
“To be fair to him, he was still very young at that time. Aberdeen is a good club so to be playing first-team football up there when you’re still a teenager, having to deal with the expectations their fans have, will only make you a better player.
“He’s taken that next step up by joining Rangers and of course it will take time to adjust and build on your performances. When I was still at Rangers, he joined in the January. But right away he started doing a lot of stuff in the gym to try and build himself up.
“You can see now he’s filled out a wee bit but he’s not done yet. He’s still young and has a lot of time on his hands to improve and become a really good player for Rangers.”
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