MOTHERWELL starlet Jake Hastie has won his first call-up for Scotland Under-21s for their friendlies in Spain later this month and boss Scot Gemmill believes he's bulked up into a "beast".
Scotland's youngsters will play Mexico and Sweden in Marbella and Gemmill unveiled his new look squad featuring 11 new faces.
Hastie headlines the new players in the squad which also include Liverpool defender George Johnston, Motherwell team-mate David Turnbull and Aberdeen winger Connor McLennan.
Gemmill has allowed the likes of Chelsea starlet Billy Gilmour, Celtic midfielder Ewan Henderson and Rangers' winger Glenn Middleton to play for Billy Stark's Under 19s in their UEFA Elite Round qualifiers in Portugal at the same time.
And the Scots boss is excited about the potential of Hastie, who netted four goals in a three-game spell.
Gemmill said: "Even if you trace back to Under-16s and Under-17s you could always see that running power. He’s obviously turned into a bit of a beast now which again is down to Motherwell and him.
"He’s worked hard to put himself into this position, not just developing physically but also tactically. The bottom line for me is he’s influencing games in a big way.
"He’s scoring important goals, goals that are really special goals. For me that’s how you really judge the player.
"It’s not just attacking players, regardless of position, are they influencing games? Are they dominating their opponents? Jake has certainly done that."
READ MORE: PFA Scotland chief calls on SFA and SPFL to action - before a player is seriously hurt by a missile
Former Scotland international Gemmill has credited the Fir Park club for developing the 19-year-old.
He said: "Motherwell have done an unbelievable job with him. Everyone has spoken about him and has had good words to say about him in terms of potential.
"But with young players there’s no guarantee it’s ever going to be fulfilled.
"Jake obviously is doing that right now for his club but at the same time we’d all agree it’s not about what he’s doing now, it’s about what he’s going to do in the future for club and hopefully for country.
"If we can help in that regard then that’s what this team is for – to give all the young players a great opportunity to learn what it’s like to play against top opposition while the main part of their development is happening with their club coaches.
"I think everyone is going to be really interested to see what Jake can do next and if he can keep pushing."
SCOTLAND UNDER 21s SQUAD:
Ross Doohan (Ayr United), Robby McCrorie (Morton); Jamie Brandon (Hearts), Daniel Harvie (Ayr United), George Johnston (Liverpool), Sean Mackie (Hibs), Barry Maguire (Queen of the South), Ross McCrorie (Rangers), Patrick Reading (Middlesbrough), Iain Wilson (Queen of the South); Alan Campbell (Motherwell), Lewis Ferguson (Aberdeen), Jordan Holsgrove (Reading), Connor McLennan (Aberdeen), Calvin Miller (Ayr United), Callumn Morrison (Hearts), David Turnbull (Motherwell), Jake Hastie (Motherwell); Fraser Hornby (Everton), Ben House (Swindon Town), Michael Johnston (Celtic), Oli Shaw (Hibs).
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here