Lawrence Shankland insists he will handle the pressure of his shock call-up to the Scotland squad and admitted he can't wait to test himself at international level.
The in-form Dundee United striker, who has bagged 15 goals already this season, was named in the full squad for the first time for this month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Russia and San Marino.
Steve Clarke has been searching for a frontman to give a cutting edge to his Scotland team ahead of next year’s Nations League play-offs and the man who has scored 78 goals since the start of the 2017/18 season for Ayr United and Dundee United, has been handed his big chance.
The 24-year-old said: “I am playing in the Championship and that is the only thing I can affect because that is where I am playing my football. All I can do is my job to the best of my abilities.
“I just need to go and give it a go and if I get the opportunity then I need to try and take it. I just need to give it my best shot.
“I am just looking forward to joining up with the squad to see what they have got and what level I need to get to.
“There is no real pressure on me. I just need to go and enjoy it because nobody is expecting me to start against Russia and then to go out and score four or five goals.
“I just want to show what I can do and to do the best I can. The only pressure will come from within to do as well as I can against top players with some of them playing in the English Premier League.
“It is not very often an opportunity comes along so I just want to go out and hopefully I can impress.”
Shankland believes a lot of credit for his call-up his to go to Dundee United and his coach Robbie Neilson, who broke the news yesterday.
He proudly admitted: “I was just buzzing. It certainly wasn’t expecting it when the gaffer told me just before the Scotland squad was announced.
“He said he was delighted for me and said I deserved my chance because I have worked hard and that is now paying off.
“He also said that when I join up with the squad I should go and enjoy it. It is brilliant and good recognition for Dundee United and myself and what we are doing as a team.”
The momentum for Shankland’s call-up has been building with big names like Ally McCoist, Charlie Nicholas and Kris Commons all urging Clarke to give him his international break.
The United star, who has previously been capped at under-21 level, didn’t give it a second thought and insisted his sole focus was on doing the business in tangerine and black.
He modestly said: “Other people were talking about myself getting a Scotland call-up but I never really read too much into it.
“It was flattering to hear people speak about me in the same breath as the Scotland squad but in all honesty it was nothing I had thought about.
“It was good to hear somebody like Ally McCoist, who had played at the top level back me, but, as I have said, it was nothing that I was getting excited about.
“I was just and still am focused on doing as well as I can for Dundee United. I knew that was all I could affect and beyond that everything else was out of my control, but thankfully enough I have now been given the opportunity.”
