ALEX McLeish, the Scotland manager, yesterday confirmed that Matt Ritchie, the Newcastle United winger, has made himself unavailable for selection “for the foreseeable future” after he named his squad for the Nations League games against Albania and Israel.

McLeish was disappointed when James McArthur, the Crystal Palace midfielder, announced his retirement from international football last week and the decision by Ritchie, who has been a regular starter for Newcastle in the Premier League this season, further weakens his options.

The 29-year-old, who qualifies to play for this country due to an Edinburgh-born father, was named SFWA International Player of the Year back in 2016 after some inspired displays in the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

Charlie Mulgrew, who missed Blackburn Rovers’ game against QPR at the weekend with a rib injury, has been named in the 23-man pool for the Group C1 matches later in Shkoder and Glasgow later this month, but the centre half may be forced to withdraw if he fails to recover.

But the national team head coach - who will also be without Tom Cairney, the Fulham midfielder who has been linked with a switch of allegiances to England, and Robert Snodgrass, who has played in West Ham’s last three games - is confident the players he has selected are good enough to secure a Euro 2020 play-off place.

“We’ve factored in everything that could happen and we know what we have to do,” he said. “I feel we have the players who can do it. I have trust in them.”

McLeish added: “Matt wanted to be left out for the foreseeable future. It’s private. It’s not something for me to discuss. He had injury issues as well and, again, there is management of his injuries.

“I wanted Matt to come in, but he has asked to be left out at the moment. He has not retired or anything. You don’t know everyone’s private life so you have to respect that. I think if you spoke to the people concerned you would be accommodating as well.”

Asked if Cairney had decided not to represent Scotland in future, McLeish said: No, he hasn’t. “There hasn’t been any chat on it. We felt that Tom has only recently come back into the Fulham side after injury. He hasn’t been in the rhythm. We feel that there will be another time for Tom to come back into the squad.”

Asked about Snodgrass, McLeish said: “He’s managing a kind of ankle knock that is on-going. It made him miss the last games too. He went back. So, again, it’s just something that was out of our control.”

McLeish is without John Souttar, the Hearts centre half who started in the Albania and Israel matches, and is hopeful Mulgrew recovers.

“Charlie is still on the treatment table, but we should know by the end of the week,” he said. “If he doesn’t play it might be that we have to call up somebody else, but I spoke to Charlie and he’s really enthusiastic. He says he’s absolutely desperate to play.”

The Scotland manager stated that David Bates of Hamburg and Liam Cooper of Leeds United could come into the reckoning if Mulgrew fails to recover in time for the Albania and Israel games.

“David is one who’s come under scrutiny,” he said. “Liam Cooper has been in great form with Leeds, so there’s a lot of lefties there. Bates is right footed and I’ve watched a lot of his games this season at Hamburg and he’s learning pretty well.”