Scot could hand Welsh the captain’s armband as his career starts to soar
Celtic defender Stephen Welsh deserves extra credit for keeping his place this season because he’s playing for one of the Old Firm.
That’s the view of Scotland Under-21s boss, Scot Gemmill.
Twenty-one-year-old Welsh was named in Gemmill’s newlook squad for their opening Euro qualifier in Turkey on September 7, and he’s a strong candidate to get the captain’s armband.
The young Scots are also due to play Wales in a behindclosed-doors friendly in Wrexham a week on Thursday.
Welsh was a stand-out for Ange Postecoglou’s side as they beat AZ Alkmaar 2-0 at home in midweek in the first leg of their Europa League play-off.
Despite the Hoops starting to spend some serious money on new recruits, Welsh has put himself in a good position to stay in the team after improving hugely recently.
And Gemmill, who has worked with Welsh at all Scotland age groups, believes Welsh has done brilliantly.
He said: “I think the pathway at the Old Firm sides is much harder. History shows that.
“The opportunity is less, no doubt about it. So Stephen deserves enormous credit.
“Right now, his level of performance seems to be rising all the time, and he’s also becoming more consistent.
“Historically, he’s been very strong for Scotland’s youth teams. He was one of the players who qualified for the Euro Under-17 Finals in Croatia four years ago.
“They won all three games in qualification and conceded just one goal.
“Stephen was a big part of that. He’s got good youth international experience, and it’s brilliant we can add to that with the 21s.
“Where they start now, and where they finish at the end of the campaign, is really interesting to watch.
“Stephen is ahead of a lot of players right now because he’s playing for one of the biggest clubs in the top competitions.
“You know, with that, he’ll have to fight to stay in the team. It couldn’t be tougher for him but he’s doing very well.”
Gemmill has been impressed with the professionalism of all his young players.
He said: “There’s been a massive improvement over the years in how these players conduct themselves.
“The 21s is still a youth team, but the intelligence and application of the players has improved so much.”
Meanwhile, Gemmill can’t wait for his young guns to test themselves against Turkey.
He said: “It will be a hard, difficult game, and could be hostile. But in terms of the players’ development, it’s exactly what we need.
“On the pitch, I’ve seen Turkey games recently, and they try to play in a specific way, with almost a full press. It’s going to take our players to really execute a game plan to get a result.
“I’ll make sure the players they know exactly what’s coming, and find a way to overcome it.”