Lawrence Shankland out of Scotland squad with ankle injury

Lawrence Shankland is out of Scotland’s upcoming Nations League double-header with an ankle injury

The 25-year-old Dundee United striker has not played since the 1-1 draw with St Johnstone on August 1 and missed the 4-0 Premiership defeat at Kilmarnock on Saturday.

Scotland play Israel at Hampden on Friday night before travelling to face the Czech Republic three days later.

After the match against Killie, United manager Micky Mellon was asked if Shankland was out of Steve Clarke’s squad.

“Yes he is,” he said. He’s just not improved to a place where he was going to even be close to being available today.

“It wouldn’t have been fair to Dundee United or Scotland to have him involved.

“I don’t know when he’s going to be available.

“There was no trauma, no moment where we could say, ‘There’s the injury, let’s deal with it’.

“It just came on out of nowhere, but sometimes those injuries can disappear just as quickly. Fingers crossed.”