Scotland have been dealt a major blow after Billy Gilmour was officially ruled out of the World Cup following a knee injury sustained against Curacao.
The Napoli playmaker suffered the injury in the first half of Scotland’s win over Curacao, with manager Steve Clarke visibly concerned immediately after the game.
Clarke admitted following the match that he had been “hoping and praying” that Gilmour would be fit to make the flight out to North America the following day.
However, the national team confirmed the injury is serious enough to end his participation in the tournament entirely, dashing the midfielder’s hopes.
A statement from the national team read: “We regret to announce that the knee injury sustained by Billy Gilmour in today’s win over Curaçao will rule him out of participation in the World Cup. We’re all with you, Billy.”
FIFA rules do allow for injured players to be replaced by a squad member up to 24 hours before a team’s opening World Cup fixture.
That rule hands Clarke a lifeline, with four players already identified as potential replacements for the stricken Napoli midfielder.
Tyler Fletcher, who made his international debut coming on at half-time against Curacao, is among those in contention to earn a call-up to the squad.
Udinese midfielder Lennon Miller is another option, with many believing he was unlucky to miss out on the original 26-man selection.
Connor Barron and Andy Irving have also been placed on standby as Clarke weighs up his decision ahead of Scotland’s opening game.
Clarke said: “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 Scotland manager indicated that Fletcher, who trained with the squad earlier in the week, may have a slight advantage over the other three candidates in contention.
Clarke said: “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.”
He added that bringing Fletcher into the tournament setup would still require significant deliberation among his backroom staff before a final decision is made.
Clarke said: “But I would need to have a big discussion with my staff in deciding that’s the way to go.”
The manager revealed that both players and coaching staff have been impressed by what they have seen from Fletcher during his short time with the group.
Clarke said: “Everybody’s impressed with him, the players are impressed, the coaching staff are impressed.”
He also revealed he had considered introducing Fletcher at the moment Gilmour went down, before ultimately deciding to wait and assess how the match developed.
Clarke said: “I actually thought about putting him on as Billy came off, but I just thought I’d have a little look to see how the game panned out before introducing him at half time.”
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