Scotland to cut Gordon & Souttar from Euros squad

Goalkeeper Craig Gordon and defender John Souttar are the Scotland players set to miss out on Euro 2024.

Head coach Steve Clarke must trim his squad from 28 to 26 for the tournament following Friday’s home friendly with Finland.

Scotland meet hosts Germany in the opening match in Munich on 14 June.

Clarke lost Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson and Lewis Ferguson to injuries before assembling his provisional group.

Since then Lyndon Dykes and Ben Doak have withdrawn, with Tommy Conway and Lewis Morgan called up.

BBC Scotland understands that Hearts veteran Gordon, 41, is in line to make an appearance against the Finns at Hampden, which would take him to 75 caps.

He has played just seven matches since breaking his leg in December 2022, while fellow Tynecastle keeper Zander Clark now appears to be the established second choice behind Angus Gunn for Scotland.

Rangers centre-half Souttar has made nine international appearances since his debut in 2018.

The 27-year-old missed the last three matches of the season through injury but has been training with Scotland.

With four goalkeepers and seven centre-backs listed, the two to be cut looked likely to come from those ranks.

Clarke gave nothing away during his media conference on Thursday afternoon, saying: “I’ve reached a decision. I haven’t had the conversation.”

When asked how difficult that process is, he said: “Almost impossible, but that’s my job. I have to do it. It won’t be nice, it won’t be easy, but we’ll deal with that between now and the the deadline.”

The official deadline for squad submissions is midnight on Friday.