Elliot Anderson has been named in Scotland’s 25-man squad for their matches against Cyprus and England in the coming weeks.
The 20 year-old English-born midfielder has represented both England and Scotland at youth international level but has now earned a surprise first ever call-up to the Scottish national side.
Scotland take on Cyprus in a UEFA Euro 2024 qualifier next week before facing England in an international friendly a few days later. The Scots, under the management of Steve Clarke, are seeking back-to-back UEFA European Championship qualifications after reaching UEFA Euro 2020 a few years ago; their first tournament qualification of the century.
Anderson began his youth career at the famous Wallsend Boys Club, which has also produced the likes of Peter Beardsley, Steve Bruce, Michael Carrick, Robbie Elliott, Alan Shearer and Alan Thompson among many others.
He began his professional career at Newcastle United in 2021 and has gone on to make 26 Premier League appearances for The Magpies in his short career after a very impressive loan spell with Bristol Rovers in the second-half of the 2021/22 campaign, in which The Gas gained promotion to League One, coached by Joey Barton.
In that loan spell, playing as a number ten, Anderson scored eight goals in 21 appearances and has since been a part of Eddie Howe’s first-team squad at St. James’ Park.
Anderson has represented Scotland at U16, U17, U18 and U21 level, whilst he also has a cap for the England U19 side.
Scotland currently sit at the top of Group A in UEFA Euro 2024 qualification with four wins out of four so far. They have defeated both Spain and Norway and it would require a bit of a collapse for them not to finish in the top two and automatically qualify for the tournament in Germany next summer. They would be guaranteed a playoff anyway as a result of their 2022/23 UEFA Nations League performance, in which they gained promotion from League B to League A.
