OWEN Coyle feels Scotland will be getting a bona fide Barclays Premier League striker of the future if Gordon Strachan can persuade Sam Gallagher to change his international allegiance from England.
Reports yesterday suggested that the Scotland manager had opened talks about persuading the 21-year-old, who was born in Devon but turned out for Scotland's Under-19 side prior to hitching his flag to the country of his birth shortly after the death of his Glaswegian father Richard three years ago, to represent Scotland instead.
The national team has searched long and hard for a tall, mobile, powerful forward and should Gallagher agree, he could be fast-tracked into the squad for the meetings with Canada and Slovenia next month. Coyle - who took the player on-loan from Southampton and worked with him prior to his departure last week - feels he could be a real asset.
"As a kid he was with Scotland and for me there is no question: Sam Gallagher is going to be a bona fide Premier League player, just when you talk about his pace and his power," said Coyle of a player who has scored 11 goals in 30 appearances for Blackburn. "He can score goals, he stands 6ft 4in tall and is good in the air. There are one or two things that he still needs to get better at but when you work with him on a daily basis there is no doubt that he has really improved. Plenty of people throughout the game are full of admiration for him. You never stop trying to persuade people, do you? But I think we will leave that one to Gordon."
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