Scotland midfielder Billy Gilmour has been ruled out of the World Cup finals by the knee injury he suffered in the friendly against Curacao at Hampden today.
Napoli player Gilmour started the warm-up match against the tiny Caribbean nation – but he fell to the turf clutching his right knee shortly before half-time and was replaced by Rangers winger Findlay Curtis after receiving medical attention.
Clarke, whose team won 4-1 thanks to a Curtis goal, a second half Lawrence Shankland double and a late Ryan Christie penalty, revealed the 46-times capped 24-year-old had been taken to hospital for a scan.
The Scotland manager was hopeful the former Rangers and Chelsea kid, who played for his country in all three group games at the Euro 2024 finals, would be with the national squad when they fly out to the United States tomorrow afternoon.
Asked about the extent of the injury, Clarke said, “It's still to be determined by the medical staff, it’s way above my head at this moment in time. I’ve not had a chance to sit down with the medics.
“He's gone for a scan now. I'm sitting here, hoping and praying he's on the plane. I haven't had a chance to speak to him. I am 100 per cent worried. "He hurt himself in the tackle and then made the decision he had to come off so that tells you that he himself knew it wasn't right. We just have to wait and see. There is no point speculating or thinking the worst. Let's wait and see what the medics say."
But the scan showed Gilmour will be sidelined for between four to six weeks and the SFA have tonight confirmed that he will not be involved in the World Cup finals.
A post on the Scotland team's official X account read, "We regret to announce that the knee injury sustained by Billy Gilmour in today's win over Curacao will rule him out of participation in the World Cup. We are all with you Billy."
Clarke handed Manchester United kid Tyler Fletcher, the son of former Scotland captain Darren, his international debut in the second half of the Curacao victory and he admitted he was pleased with how the teenage midfielder acquitted himself.
“He did well," he said. "Everybody's impressed, the players are impressed, the coaching staff are impressed. I actually thought about putting him on as Billy came off, but I just thought I'd have a little look, see how the game panned out before introducing him at half time."
Asked if Fletcher has given him a selection headache if Gilmour was ruled out of the World Cup before he knew the results of the scan, Clarke said, "Good headache though. We have Connor Barron, Andy Irving, Lennon Miller and you can see for yourself how good young Tyler is. It will keep me awake tonight. "The three I mentioned are on standby. Tyler joined us this week and trained well this week so is a little bit closer than the other three. But I would need to have a big discussion with my staff in deciding what's the way to go."
