Clarke does 180 as Rangers’ Connor Barron gets major call | OneFootball

We had to laugh a little, while obviously offering congratulations to Rangers’ Connor Barron on his latest call up to the Scotland national team, coming only days after it had been reported Steve Clarke wasn’t going to take him into the seniors just yet because the U21s were doing so well.

As it transpires, Clarke may have changed his mind, and we now see Rangers’ midfielder curiously replacing a winger in the squad of Celtic’s James Forrest.

It is of course good news for Rangers, having another senior call up in the NT, and we obviously offer our best wishes to the lad for securing it, but we do wonder why it’s he replacing a winger.

It also comes after reports that Rangers’ dynamic midfielder had picked up a knock with the U21s and that he didn’t travel to Kazakhstan with the rest of the squad – it appears now that he stayed behind for a switch to the seniors.

It’s obviously a change of heart from the national boss, Clarke isn’t doing terribly well in the job at the moment and needs all the help he can get.

Barron is a polished member of the unders and is nearing readiness to fully represent the national side at senior level, but this particular call is borne more out of injury desperation than anything else.

We’re not quite sure why Clarke chose a defensive midfielder to replace a winger, it’s a strange choice of switch, but end of the day Barron gets his call to the seniors and may even feature against Portugal.

He is extremely unlikely to start.

An appearance from the bench? Possibly – Scotland still have McTominay, McLean and Gilmour in the middle, even if there’s no McGinn or Ferguson.

So Barron could get on, but we can’t see the Rangers man in the starting XI.

But then, Clarke’s side isn’t winning too much right now so maybe he will change things up.