England and Scotland are battling to secure the international future of Newcastle midfielder Elliot Anderson.
Anderson has represented both nations at youth level and was included in the Scotland set-up for this month’s fixtures with Cyprus and England, before withdrawing from Steve Clarke’s squad.
The 20-year-old’s future is a sub-plot to the friendly fixture between Scotland and England on Tuesday evening, a game which will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first encounter between the British rivals.
Ahead of the clash, England manager Gareth Southgate and Scotland’s Steve Clarke have discussed Anderson’s international future, with the latter admitting the midfielder ‘has a choice to make’.
“We like the player as well so Elliot will still have that choice to make,” Clarke said at his pre-match press conference.
“When I come out of this camp I will look at what we have done, what we have had, what’s occurred over this camp, we will do a debrief on it and then we will shape what we do from there.”
Clarke’s comments come after Southgate had spoken on Anderson, calling the youngster a player that England ‘like’.
“We liked him and we do like him. We think he’s a player that’s doing really well,” Southgate said this week.
“Obviously, he was called into their [Scotland] squad earlier in the week and I don’t know what the position is at the moment. I saw he’s pulled out.
“Let’s see, that’s something that [FA technical director] John (McDermott) and others at our organisation will be picking up. He’s definitely a player we like.”
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