Attacker Oli McBurnie says he had no dilemma in opting to play for Scotland over England following his first call-up to the senior squad.
McBurnie, who is on loan at Barnsley from English Premier League side Swansea City, has been selected for Alex McLeish’s first squad since returning as national team manager for friendlies against Costa Rica and Hungary.
Although he was born and raised in Leeds, McBurnie revealed he was brought up as an exiled Scot and says choosing England was never on his radar.
McBurnie said: “I never really had any choice. All my family are from Glasgow. My brother Zander and I always got brought up as being Scottish. We would go into school on a dress-down day and we would wear our Scotland tops.
“It seems a bit alien to me when people say I’m English, but with the accent I guess it comes with the territory.
“We were brought up Scottish. We were brought up to celebrate when England got knocked out of the World Cup. That was my childhood.
“Club football is one thing, but international football is the pinnacle. To get the call-up is massive. It’s the proudest moment of my career so far.”
It is sure to be a proud moment for McBurnie’s family should he make his international debut against Costa Rica at Hampden Park on Friday, and the 21-year-old added: “I think I’ll need about 47 tickets for Hampden. A lot of people have messaged me to say they are going to come up.
“My grandma, Morag, was even saying she should come up, but I told her she could watch it on television and I would let her off with this one.
“She is 91 now and up until three or four years ago she would come to all the games, no matter where they were.”