Sebastien Pocognoli will hand Luke Graham and Robbie Ure their first full Scotland call-ups. The new £9 million Sevilla striker and the Stoke City defender will both be named in Pocognoli’s first squad on Tuesday.
New faces in the squad
Record Sport online broke the story of Ure's selection on Monday and he will be joined by the former Dundee player amongst the new-look national picks for the upcoming Nations League fixtures. Scots are away to Slovenia, home to Switzerland, away to North Macedonia and home against the Slovenians between September 26 and October 6.
Pocognoli is set to freshen up his squad. Graham and Ure will be the two headline call-ups.
Graham's rise
Graham has also hit the ground running since his £2 million move to Stoke City from Dundee in the summer. The big defender has been a regular for Scotland under-21s, but will now go into the full squad. The 22-year-old was given the chance to train with Steve Clarke’s squad as they finalised their World Cup preparations. Graham impressed and earned a spot on the bench for the Curaçao friendly but never played.
New Scotland under-21 boss Tony Docherty worked with Graham at Dundee, but spent a lot of time under him out on-loan at Falkirk. He really came to the fore under Dundee boss Steven Pressley.
Ure's form
Ure is one of the in-form strikers in Europe. He had a goal-a-game ratio with Sirius this year. That free-scoring spree won him his big-money move to La Liga with Sevilla this summer. Ure left Rangers for Anderlecht as a youngster because he didn’t feel there was a pathway.
The Scottish Football Association’s chief officer Craig Mulholland was in charge of the Ibrox academy when the young frontman turned down a new deal. Ure can also play for Ukraine through the grandparent rule but Mulholland and Pocognoli have gone on the offensive to secure him for Scotland. He has previously played for Scotland at under-19 level.
Other considerations
Belgian Pocognoli has already taken in a number of potential games and options over the past few weeks. Hearts boss Wouter Vrancken has already hinted that some of his squad could be involved. Torino striker Che Adams is a potential injury doubt. He missed Monday's game against Roma with an abductor injury.
