International manager raises homegrown player concern – here’s where Scotland ranks

The rise of the Saudi Pro League has been well-documented, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mane among the high-profile star’s to make the move to the Middle-East over the past few years.

The influx of talent has had a knock-on effect both positively and negatively to the oil-rich country since there’s been more media spotlight on the teams and the league, coupled with huge sponsorship deals.

Sadly, it’s been a detriment on the regular playing time for Saudi nationals though, with the former Manchester City title-winner suggesting almost half of his pool of players aren’t currently getting regular game time at club level.  

Speaking ahead of Saudi’s World Cup qualifier against Japan, Mancini said: “I’ve said this many times. The only problem that we have is three years ago all the Saudi players played every [club] game. 

“Today, 50, 60 per cent don’t play in the games. This is the problem that we have.” 

That’s something that Scotland boss Steve Clarke could probably relate to, with an array of injuries and withdrawals prior to the UEFA Nations League double-header versus Croatia and Portugal leading him to hand maiden call-ups to several players – who otherwise probably wouldn’t usually get a look-in at such level.

Aberdeen’s Nicky Devlin and Jack MacKenzie, Preston North End’s Liam Lindsay, and Andy Irving from West Ham United have all been included in his latest squad for the first time. 

Regular No.1 goalkeeper Angus Gunn pulled out after sustaining a knock and the lack of ready-made replacements regularly getting game time is a cause for concern.

Craig Gordon is 41, and at Hearts who are bottom of the league. Jon McCracken hasn’t exactly covered himself in glory in recent weeks for Dundee. While Robby McCrorie, Liam Kelly and Zander Clark are all sitting on the bench at their club’s.

(Image: SNS Group) The topic of developing talent locally and letting them flourish within our league is certainly not a new one.

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The CIES football observatory actually states that 57.4 per cent of the minutes that go to Scottish Premiership players are, on average, played by “footballers who grew up in a different association than the one they currently play in.”

(Image: CIES Football Atlas) Overall, the Scottish top-flight sits sixth worldwide for the amount of expatriates, behind Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, United Arab Emirates and Italy. 

Scotland do, of course, now have men playing overseas. Scott McTominay, Che Adams, and Billy Gilmour all earned transfers to Serie A this summer – albeit all signing from English Premier League teams. Scott McKenna and Oli McBurnie are also at Las Palmas in La Liga. 

That leaves you thinking, how does the Scottish Premiership raise the standard while incorporating a strong number of Scottish natives into a first team environment, with a clear pathway into the national team?