Soon be rubbing shoulders andowski, Muller and Co.

Scotland youth coach, Brian Mclaughlin (right) believes Liam Morrison is on the way to sharing the Bayern Munich dressing room with the likes of (from left) Thomas Muller, Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry, who’ll feature in tonight’s Champions League Final in Lisbon he was thrust into the first team. He played in the Scottish Cup Final against Celtic last year, which was huge pressure on the boy.

“But, to be fair to him, he has a good character and playing in the Final, against arguably the top winger in the country in the shape of James Forrest, didn’t faze him. “And now he could be on the brink of a move to Bayern Munich as well.

“All credit to Hearts and Craig Levein. It was incredibly brave to pitch him into a Cup Final at the age of 16 (and only his second game for the Edinburgh club).

“That just shows you what he thought of him.”

Both youngsters, Mclaughlin argues, are examples of a new generation of Performance School graduates, with the technical ability and application to take Scotland to a higher level.

“We have a bunch of young players who want to go to the very top, and have the talent to do it,” he said. “There is Billy Gilmour at Chelsea, Liam at Bayern – where he could be possibly be joined by Aaron, and maybe even another kid on Celtic’s books, Barry Hepburn, who’s just 16. “Then there are the two lads who have gone down to Manchester City, Liam Smith from Kilmarnock and Josh Adam, who was with Celtic.

“You add these moves together, and you can see that some of the biggest clubs in the world want to sign our young players.

“I believe they are looking at Scotland’s performances against the top countries at youth level and thinking, ‘Hey, this kid just came up against a £15-millionrated prospect, and more than held his own. We should be interested in him.’.

“From an international perspective, it is very exciting.

“Is players leaving Scotland to go down south or abroad good for our club game?

“I am honestly not sure.

“I do know, however, there are some very good other youngsters who are on the brink of breaking through at their clubs.

“I look at the Premiership games which are up and running, and I would love to see them getting involved.

“I am sure they could make an impact at that level.

“And, as I say, further afield, I really do believe Liam Morrison can go on to play Champions League football for Bayern Munich.”