STEVE Clarke is unsurprised Lewis Ferguson is being tipped to join one of the biggest clubs in Italy this summer having been hugely impressed with the Scotland midfielder’s form for Bologna in recent weeks.

However, Clarke has stressed the 10-times capped 24-year-old is not guaranteed to start in the national team’s forthcoming matches against the Netherlands and Northern Ireland due to the strong options he has in the centre of the park.

Ferguson has been linked with Serie A giants AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Lazio and Napoli in recent weeks as he has helped the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara outfit to move into fourth place.

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The former Hamilton and Aberdeen player was involved in the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Georgia and Norway back in November and is sure to feature in this month’s friendly internationals.

But Clarke is, even though Ryan Jack and Callum McGregor are out injured, able to field Ryan Christie, Billy Gilmour, John McGinn, Kenny McLean and Scott McTominay in Ferguson’s area of the pitch.   

“Lewis has just carried on in the same vein,” he said. “He’s playing really well and really consistently game in game out and it looks like he’s attracting a bit of attention.

“I watched his last game against Inter. They lost the game, but Lewis was good, as he always is. His performances are very consistent.

Glasgow Times: “He plays as a pressing No 10 and does it quite well. But I’ve used John McGinn in that position before and Scott McTominay is actually playing in a very similar position for Man United at the minute. So I’ve got loads of pressing No 10s.

“Billy Gilmour is playing week in week out at Brighton and Ryan Christie has found another level of performance at Bournemouth now that they have tweaked his position a little bit. Then you’ve got the usuals - McGinn and McTominay. So it’s a strong area of the pitch for us.

“Lewis understands the situation and he understands that we’re very strong in the midfield area. He knows he’s got to be patient to get his chance. But I’m pretty sure when he gets his chance he’ll be ready for it.”

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Meanwhile, Clarke has stressed that he will only promote Scotland Under-21 players to the senior set-up if he loses more squad members to injury in the final round of matches before the international break. 

“This weekend coming up is the worst,” he said. "I just sit slumped with my head in my hands, thinking ‘don’t get injured, don’t get injured’.

“As you look at this squad, it’s quite short. We only have 21 outfield players and a lot of them are defenders. I could have boosted it with one or two of the younger ones.

“But I want to re-emphasise the fact that while I have my eye on the younger group I think the under-21s should stick together and try and qualify out of their section (for the Under-21 Euro 2025 finals).

“Rather than calling some of them up to train with us, it’s better that they go with Scot Gemmill and play. Obviously, if I go into this weekend and lose another couple of players then I may need to dip down to Scott’s squad and take one or two of the younger ones. But hopefully I won’t have to.”

Clarke added: “I’m not sure there is that much value in taking them to Euro 2024, if you are taking them just to be there and experience it.

“It might be better just to keep them a little bit hungry and let them think ‘there is the carrot for the World Cup 2026’. That’s what the current 21s squad should be looking at, the next tournament. Can they try and be involved in that?”