Scotland: Can Morgan add firepower for Clarke at Euros?

Well, who saw this coming?

With just seven days to go until Scotland open Euro 2024 against host nation Germany, Lewis Morgan has been told to hastily pack a travel bag and get himself from New York City to Glasgow.

The former St Mirren forward had been expecting to spend the next couple of weeks with the Red Bulls, playing out MLS fixtures against Nashville, Montreal and Toronto.

Now, he’ll travel with Steve Clarke’s side for continental clashes versus Germany, Switzerland and Hungary. Some turnaround.

Earlier this week, Bristol City frontman Tommy Conway was drafted in to bolster Scotland’s depleted forward options after Lyndon Dykes and Ben Doak both picked up injuries.

But with multiple players still carrying knocks ahead of Friday’s friendly with Finland, it seems Clarke is looking to add more firepower into his Euros squad.

Folk will debate the quality of stateside soccer, but there’s no arguing that Morgan is player in a rich vein of form.

The 27-year-old has nine goals and three assists in the opening 16 games of his MLS campaign. Lawrence Shankland aside, there’s few in Scotland blue that can boast that level of output in recent times.

As the news of Morgan’s shock call-up broke on Thursday morning, some people immediately asked what this says about Ryan Gauld.

The Vancouver Whitecaps captain has 10 goal contributions in the same number of games as his compatriot, but still seems frozen out in Canada.

But as the Tartan Army have come to know, Clarke is a creature of habit. Morgan was in one of the head coach’s early squads in 2019, and appears to have retained a strong enough reputation to be given one huge opportunity at the final hour.