MARK McGhee insisted last night that Ross McCormack still had an international future despite the striker being overlooked twice for Scotland’s opening World Cup qualifier with Malta on Sunday.

McCormack, who moved from Fulham to Aston Villa for a then record £12 million fee last month, wasn’t included in Gordon Strachan’s 27 man pool for the Group F match when it was announced last week.

Tony Watt, the Hearts forward, was also preferred to the 30-year-old as a replacement for Leigh Griffiths on Tuesday when the on-form Celtic striker withdrew due to a hamstring injury.

The former Rangers, Motherwell, Cardiff City and Leeds United man has, despite commanding transfer fees of £23 million in the last two years, only been involved in the national set-up sporadically under Strachan.

His call-up for the friendly against the Czech Republic back in March was his first involvement with his country in two years and only came after Steven Naismith withdrew. He set up Ikechi Anya for the only goal of the game in Prague.

However, McGhee, who worked with McCormack during his first spell in charge of Motherwell, is adamant the 13-times capped player is very much in their thoughts and would feature as they bid to reach Russia 2018.

“There is no bigger fan of Ross McCormack than me,” he said. “From day one I have promoted Ross from when I first saw him at Fir Park.

“But what Gordon has done is sat in the summer and drawn up a list of 45 or so players he thinks we should be looking at and scouting.

"We have had Andy Watson, Andy Ritchie, Gordon, myself and others out at games watching all those players so that we have done our due diligence.

“Then, when it comes to the squad, Gordon picks 24. There are, therefore, another 20 or so players at home somewhere wondering why they are not here. Ross is one of them.

“But I would say that between now and the end of this campaign, which is ten games, we will probably turn over all 45 players. Next time round there will be players here not here today and players here today who aren’t here next time.

“Players will get an opportunity. What Gordon has done this time is pick a group of players, balanced it for how he expects to play and the opposition. It’s for this game and next game we will look again.”

Meanwhile, McGhee has stressed that Oliver Burke, the 19-year-old whose £13 million transfer from Nottingham Forest to Red Bull Leipzig broke the transfer record for a Scottish player, wouldn’t necessarily start in the Ta’Qali Stadium this weekend.

“He is the most expensive player in the squad, but Oliver may or may not play,” he said. “It’s about the manager picking a balanced team that is going to play the best they can and trying to understand where the opposition can be exploited.”