THERE was a sudden outbreak of excitement among members of the Tartan Army for the first time since Scotland were knocked out of the Euro 2024 finals yesterday as Harvey Barnes “refused to rule out” switching his international allegiances from England.
The £38m Newcastle United winger, who made one appearance for the country of his birth in a friendly against Wales at Wembley back in 2020, is eligible to play for the national team through his paternal grandparents.
The prospect of such a gifted Premier League footballer donning a dark blue jersey lifted the spirits of supporters who are still hurting about their heroes’ failure to progress beyond the group stages in Germany back in June.
Read more:
I’d take him in a heartbeat. Get him in the squad ASAP. Make the call now. Those were just some of the online comments which were posted on social media websites in the wake of an interview the 26-year-old gave to the media at United’s pre-season training camp in, ironically enough, Bavaria.
Will Barnes now be named in Steve Clarke’s squad for the Nations League matches against Poland at Hampden and Portugal in Lisbon next month?
It would help Scotland’s chances of holding their own in the A League if he was. Clarke’s men were lacking in width, creativity in the final third and a goal threat in their Group A matches against Germany, Switzerland and Hungary. The former Leicester City man would provide all three if he was involved.
(Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.) But it is the player, not the manager, who has to take the initiative. Discussions between the two men have taken place in the past. The door is very much open. But the forward has to show the necessary desire to represent this country, a definite commitment to their cause.
Clarke has been heavily criticised by pundits, former players and fans since the 1-0 loss in Stuttgart. His stance on Barnes, though, is the correct one. There is no point bringing on board an individual, even a supremely gifted and vastly experienced one, if his heart isn’t in it.
“If we can find people who will improve us and who really, really, really want to be with us then we can improve the squad that way,” said Clarke in September last year. “If there are people who have a little doubt and they’re not quite sure then I am not going to be phoning up and trying to persuade anybody to come.
Read more:
“I want a Che Adams, I want a Lyndon Dykes. On board from the first minute they walked in the door, on board with everyone at it. They understand what it means to everybody within the group.”
Barnes, who wasn't involved with England at Euro 2020, Qatar 2022 or Euro 2024, didn't exactly give the impression that he was itching to be a part of things when he spoke yesterday. “It’s not something I’ve thought too much on,” he said. “The main focus is to get back playing for Newcastle first of all and then see what happens.”
If he does decide that he wants to get involved in the future, if he does exhibit the sort of hunger which is needed, he will find he is welcomed with open arms.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here