Scotland boss Clarke sure Serie A would be perfect platform for in-demand Lennon Miller

It doesn’t seem that long ago that London seemed to be as far as any promising Scottish talent was willing to relocate to.

The pioneering wanderlust gene prevalent in our predecessors appeared to be absent in the nation’s footballers.

The south of England was as much of a culture shock as they were prepared to tolerate.

Not any more. When Steve Clarke named his Scotland squad for next month’s friendly double-header at home to Iceland and then away to Liechtenstein, it contained eight names playing their club football overseas.

Five of those are enjoying la dolce vita in Italy. Lewis Ferguson has just captained Bologna to cup glory, Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour are closing in on the Serie A title with Napoli, Che Adams is leading the line for Torino, while Josh Doig has helped Sassuolo win promotion.

It would not be any huge surprise, then, if Lennon Miller was weighing up his options and decided he fancies some of that for himself.

Motherwell starlet Lennon Miller could be set for a big move this summer

Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay is chasing the Serie A title with Napoli

Lennon Miller has been picked for the last two Scotland squads

Motherwell seem almost resigned to losing their teenage talisman at the end of another productive season that has seen him crowned Young Player of the Year.

Udinese and Bologna were two of the clubs credited with an interest during the January window — Celtic were also keen — and there will likely be an even greater queue of suitors waiting to tempt him away in the weeks ahead.

Clarke has become a regular consumer of Italian football as he keeps a keen eye on how his players are performing. Moving abroad, he believes, has brought out the best in the likes of Ferguson, making them more rounded individuals when they return home for international duty.

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The Scotland manager was keen not to overstep the mark or appear to be steering Miller in any particular direction but should the teenager elect to swap Lanarkshire for Lombardy, Clarke is confident he would thrive.

‘I’m not sure what Lennon’s plans are,’ he said. ‘He spoke at the Scottish Football Writers’ dinner on Sunday night — picking up his award which was well deserved — and he wasn’t giving too much away!

‘Listen, I’m sure they’ve got offers on the table. I hope that he, his family and his agent make the right choice. And that he goes somewhere he’s going to play, where he’s going to get minutes and develop in a similar manner to someone like Lewis Ferguson, for example, who went abroad at the right time and has developed into a really good player.

‘Lennon will know if he’s ready to go abroad. And his family will know if they’re prepared to let him move abroad.

'Maybe they’ll think he’s not ready and that will be a factor in the decision. But I think he’s a pretty level-headed boy. He’s pretty sensible so I’m sure he’ll make the right decision.

‘Whether he goes abroad, or whether he stays in this country, the most important thing for any young player is minutes on the pitch. And if he can get minutes on the pitch then he will improve.’

Steve Clarke has picked his Scotland squad for the friendlies with Iceland and Liechtenstein

Everton defender Nathan Patterson is back in the Scotland squad following injury

Clarke has already seen the benefit of having others plying their trade in Italy and gaining the benefits of a change of perspective.

‘They just bring a freshness. They learn different ideas and different tactics. Serie A is a very disciplined league. If you watch the games — and I’ve watched a lot of Serie A this year — it’s very tactical.

‘It’s very demanding and there aren’t too many mistakes. You aren’t allowed to make big mistakes. Games tend not to be end-to-end.

‘The players work with different coaches with different mentalities and they come back with different ideas. Hopefully that will make us better in the future.’

While Clarke was upbeat about the rise in Scots abroad and an improvement in his right-back options — Nathan Patterson and Max Johnston are in this squad while Aaron Hickey is not far behind — he was less optimistic about the state of Scottish goalkeeping.

With Craig Gordon and Liam Kelly missing due to injury, Clarke has named Angus Gunn, Robby McCrorie and Cieran Slicker as his three goalkeepers for these two friendlies.

But he believes Scotland got complacent during the period when Gordon, Allan McGregor and David Marshall were all battling it out for the No1 jersey.

‘We’re looking a little bit light in the goalkeeping department,’ he added. ‘Robby has had an in and out season at Kilmarnock. Cieran isn’t playing regular football.

‘So, it is an area of the pitch that does concern us to be honest with you when you look at the future of the Scottish national team. We do need to find one or two goalkeepers.

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‘Maybe we should have picked up on it a few years ago. It’s probably an oversight.

'We had three goalkeepers of such quality at the same time all playing that we probably thought that it would never end. But we should have had a little look.

‘We just have to keep looking to see what’s out there. I’ve not found too many with a Scottish granny yet to be honest. It’s difficult to find.’

Clarke has called up Hibernian’s Kieron Bowie and also included West Ham’s Andy Irving and Rangers’ Connor Barron in this squad. And he explained why 21-goal Simon Murray was overlooked at the age of 33.

‘Simon has had a great season but I just felt this was an opportunity to look at younger players, rather than Simon, who has been around for a long time,’ explained the manager. ‘He has had a fantastic season at Dundee.

‘I have never been shy about bringing in (older) players, for example Andy Considine. If the moment was there, the timing was right and the situation was right then Simon could have made the squad but I wanted to look at the younger players.

‘You are always hoping for players to give you food for thought. That is sometimes why you bring in some of the younger boys.

'Then the older boys are suddenly looking over their shoulder thinking, “Aye, aye, he’s thinking of doing something different”.’