Kieran Trippier has revealed talking to Newcastle team-mate Elliot Anderson over his international career with the door open for England to secure his future.
Anderson, 20, was named in Scotland’s squad to face Gareth Southgate’s team at Hampden Park but pulled out through injury, offering hope of a return to the England set-up after playing for their Under-19s.
Southgate has confirmed Anderson as a player of interest to England, with Trippier endorsing his young team-mate as a player of huge potential.
“In pre-season he’s been unbelievable,” said Trippier. “It was good for him last year to stay with us and not go out on loan again. He’s a young lad with great potential.
“Obviously we’ve had talks but like Gareth said before, he went away with Scotland, ultimately that is his decision. He’s a young lad with great potential so that decision is ultimately up to him.”
While England are keen on Anderson switching, there is interest from Scotland in calling up Harvey Barnes, who was capped by Southgate in 2020.
“Both are very good players,” said Southgate. “In terms of Harvey he is a player who played for us, we have a lot of competition in that area of the pitch so he is a player we are always monitoring. He is a player we like a lot.
“With Elliot, I think he is a player who has progressed really well, we have previously spoken with him, but he was named in the squad here and we thought that was that.
“I thought he had an excellent pre-season with Newcastle and you can see that evolution he has as a young player and the potential he has got. I know at Newcastle they rate him very highly.
“I don’t know the answer to the ultimate question for either player but there are going to be more and more of these situations because there are so many players with dual or triple nationality now.
“It is very complicated for every country and sometimes you cannot offer the player something as quickly as they like. We have benefited from that and we have lost players because of it and I think that is always going to be the case.”
Steve Clarke, the Scotland manager, says the decision is now down to Anderson. “We like the player as well so Elliot will still have that choice to make,” he said. “When I come out of this camp I will look at what we have done, what we have had, what’s occurred over this camp, we will do a debrief on it and then we will shape what we do from there.”
Southgate could be facing Angus Gunn on Wednesday, the goalkeeper he gave an England Under-21 cap to before he switched to Scotland.
