What Scotland call up means for Hearts and its young rising star continuing to soar

Edinburgh Evening News

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00:00Let's talk now about the Scotland squad

00:01because we've got quite a lot to get through here, actually.

00:04I was on a podcast with our colleague, Louis Anderson,

00:07yesterday, who was at the Scotland squad announcement

00:10today, and we were talking about potential strikers.

00:14And James Wilson's name did not enter that conversation.

00:19Any Hearts fan, and I've been hugely impressed with him,

00:21and I think most everyone across Scottish football has.

00:24But seeing him named in the senior Scotland squad

00:27has really come as a huge surprise.

00:29I can't think there's going to be a single person out there

00:32that saw this coming, especially considering,

00:34as we were saying before we started recording the pod,

00:36he's completely skipped the under 21 stage.

00:41I imagine he will, after these games,

00:44potentially, you know, once Lyndon Dykes is

00:46fit in the club, he might go back to the under 21s

00:49and start playing some football there.

00:51But yeah, just what a brilliant opportunity for him

00:54now being named in that squad.

00:56Yeah, the impact he's made at Hearts this season

01:00has probably taken a lot of people aback.

01:02I mean, his goals return is decent, obviously,

01:05for a young kid, and it was his first real season

01:07in the first team.

01:09But it's more about his overall maturity.

01:11If you watch how he plays, how he communicates

01:13with his teammates, his movement off the ball,

01:15his instincts, he's a very intelligent player,

01:18both on and off the pitch.

01:20If you speak to him, it's not like speaking to a normal,

01:22he's now 18.

01:23I first interviewed him when he was 16,

01:24after his debut at Spartans in the Scottish Cup,

01:26and it was honestly like interviewing

01:28a 30-year-old man, you know, who'd played 12, 13 years

01:33at the top level, and he just, he was nothing

01:36like what I expected.

01:38I mean, credit to Steve Clarke here.

01:40He's put James Wilson in and Lennon Miller, both 18.

01:44Clearly, these types of players are the future

01:46of the national team, so he's getting them in early

01:48and giving them a taste of what it's like.

01:50Will they play in this Greece playoff?

01:52I would be surprised if any of them get any minutes,

01:54and that's not, I don't say that disparagingly,

01:57because they're both terrific prospects,

02:00and they will become Scotland,

02:01full Scotland internationals at the time.

02:03But Steve Clarke's ploy, if you look at previous new faces

02:06that he's called up, both young players

02:08and more experienced ones, they tend to join the squad,

02:11and in their first camp, they just observe.

02:15They train, obviously, and then they may be on the bench,

02:17but they tend not to actually play any minutes.

02:19But still, what an achievement, you know, 18,

02:22two of them in the Scotland squad,

02:24thoroughly deserved, Miller's been terrific for Motherwell

02:27for a long time now, even back to last season,

02:29and he was excellent.

02:31James Wilson's come into the Hearts team this season

02:33and started a good number of games for a 17-year-old.

02:38He recently turned 18 there last week,

02:39so he'll be buzzing with this,

02:43what an achievement for him, still at school.

02:45So, you know, you turn up to school,

02:47you say to your teachers,

02:49yeah, I'm sorry, I can't make this lesson,

02:51I'm actually away with the Scotland squad next week,

02:52what a great position to be in for him.

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