Matt Ritchie has been handed an extra incentive this season ahead of his return from injury - with next summer's European Championships now on the horizon for Scotland.
The 31-year-old has not played for Scotland for over two years when his side were booed off at Hampden Park in a 1-0 defeat against Costa Rica and since then there has been constant speculation over whether Ritchie hung up his international boots.
Those close to him insist he hadn't, and since then things have changed for Scotland with Steve Clarke now in charge and leading them to a major tournament, alongside Steven Reid and John Carver, for the first time since 1998.
Scotland's viewpoint seems to be the door was never closed on Ritchie returning, but now the emphasis will surely be about the players that got them to Euro 2020 and his chances of getting picked in the squad will boil down to injuries and availability.
Perhaps international football became a big ask for Ritchie back in 2017 when he was trying to help Newcastle to promotion in the 2016/17 season and was focused on getting through the gruelling 46-game programme ahead of anything else.
Back then he told the Scotsman newspaper: "It was about managing my body.
"At the time it was about promotion to the Premier League and whether I risked coming away and getting injured.
"I made the decision to get treatment back at Newcastle and used the time to get ready for the next game.
"That wasn’t me choosing Newcastle over Scotland.
"It was about managing my body and not wanting to break down."
Ritchie is now back from a shoulder injury and pushing to play in the Premier League.
It has to start there for the ex-AFC Bournemouth man, who has three goals and 16 caps, because without consistent displays at club level he wouldn't be in the conversation for Euro 2020 anyway.
But the carrot of a once in a lifetime major tournament for Ritchie and a generation of Scottish players is dangling and who wouldn't want to be part of it?
