The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Armstrong and Souttar take list of withdrawals to six
Scotland are set to travel to Peru and Mexico with just 21 players after John Souttar and Stuart Armstrong took the total number of withdrawals to six.
It was only a week ago that boss Alex Mcleish named his original 24-man group for the end-of-season tour.
But that was quickly followed by a spate of drop-outs as goalkeeper Allan Mcgregor, defender Barry Douglas and wingers Matt Ritchie and Ryan Fraser decided they could not travel for the games with Peru on May 29 and Mexico on June 2.
Now Hearts centre-back Souttar and Celtic midfielder Armstrong have informed Mcleish they are not fit enough for the trans-atlantic jaunt.
Armstrong tweaked a hamstring during his late substitute appearance in Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup final win over Motherwell.
He underwent a scan on Monday morning and has now opted against risking the injury further with Celtic’s Champions League qualifiers just seven weeks away.
Souttar has been playing with a similar knock for the past few weeks and Jambos boss Craig Levein fears the 21-year-old may yet need surgery.
“We’ve had a scare with John because this injury is a little worse than we feared,” Levein told the Edinburgh Evening News. “I’m hoping it settles down and doesn’t require any surgery.
“It was a really weird injury he got against Celtic. He was clearing the ball across his body and someone came in and caught him on the hip joint. It was a right clatter.
“I’m still not 100% sure whether it’s just muscular or if there’s some damage to the cartilage in the hip. That would a bigger problem for us.
“If it’s just muscular and it clears up quickly, then we’re fine. If it’s worse than that then it would have longerterm implications.”
Mcleish, who is without a crop of regulars having decided to rest the likes of Celtic stars Craig Gordon, Kieran Tierney, Callum Mcgregor, James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths, has only called up Hoops goalkeeper Scott Bain, Kilmarnock right-back Stephen O’donnell and Motherwell winger Chris Cadden so far.
And with the team due to depart today, it is understood there is not enough time to draft in fresh reserves, meaning Mcleish will have to make do with a skeleton 21-man squad.