Lewis Ferguson is ready to finally emerge as a Scotland star

The Herald Scotland

05-06-2025

That intrigue perhaps mainly centres around catching a glimpse of what may be to come from Scotland in the approaching World Cup qualifiers.
There are, of course, now two Serie A title winning midfielders in the squad for instance, one of whom, Scott McTominay, was the best player in Italy last season. And though the circus has centred upon the boys in Napoli blue, there is another midfielder in Lewis Ferguson, the captain of Bologna, who lifted the Coppa Italia.
Many other nations of our size and more than a few larger ones would likely kill to have talents like McTominay, Ferguson and Billy Gilmour available to them in that area of the pitch, and would be building their team around them. Rather surprisingly, though, the Italian-based trio have rarely been seen together in the dark blue.
(Image: Giuseppe Maffia - SNS Group) In fact, they have started a match together for Scotland on only two occasions – the win over Greece in the first leg of that eventual Nations League playoff defeat, and the friendly thumping in France a couple of years back when the squad was still hanging like a bag of washing from their European Championship qualification party.
It was still somewhat surprising though that after an impressive display from Ferguson in that win in Greece, Clarke dropped him to the bench in favour of Kenny McLean for the return leg at Hampden, a match the Scots lost 3-0.
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That is not to denigrate McLean, who has been a fine servant for his country, nor the contribution of Callum McGregor, who was an integral part of Clarke's midfield before his international retirement, but it is something of a peculiarity that a talent such as Ferguson playing and excelling at such a high level in his club football has only 14 caps for Scotland (and just three starts in total) at the age of 25.
He did, of course, suffer a sickening blow when an ACL injury ruled him out of the Euros last summer, but even still, he was hardly a regular fixture in the national side prior to that.
With McGregor having stepped away from Scotland and the 33-year-old McLean not included in this squad, it seems the perfect opportunity this evening to unleash the three Serie A midfield stars together with a view to making it a fixture.
Often, it has been Ferguson who has had to watch on from the sidelines, but as Clarke has now explained, he feels his time has come to emerge as a central figure in his Scotland team.
'To be the captain of the Bologna team that lifts the cup is something amazing,' Clarke said.
'I was lucky enough to speak to Lewis' dad [Derek] the other day at Lesser Hampden - he was there with the Homeless World Cup squad, watching training. And his dad was so proud of him, and so he should be. It's a magnificent achievement.
'Lewis is one I've always spoken about, he will be a big player for Scotland, and I think we are at the stage now where he's ready to do that. I'm looking forward to working with Lewis in this camp and the camps going forward.
'I thought the decision of the two boys to go to Napoli was really brave, as it was for Lewis back in the day to go to Bologna.
"The two boys going to Napoli, it's just like a dream, to make that decision to go abroad and to end up winning Serie A against a really top Inter Milan team.
'I think the last month of the season, everybody in Scotland became a Napoli fan! We were all so desperate for them to win the title. And they did, and it was nice of Scott to turn up on the last day of the season and score another goal. It was a decent finish.
(Image: Craig Foy - SNS Group) 'Billy played that game as well and was outstanding. So, Scott's been the one that's grabbed the headlines, but that's not to forget Billy, who was there when they needed him when [Stanislav] Lobotka was out injured. He never let his side down. Well played both of them.'
Another whose own impressive season in Italy has largely been knocked off the back pages by the exploits of the Napoli duo is striker Che Adams, and Clarke is hoping that he can bring the goalscoring touch he rediscovered with Torino into the international arena.
"He's another one who made a big decision to go abroad," he said.
"It's probably a different level of club. They finished mid-table, which is probably where they expected to be.
"To go out there and score ten goals in Serie A as a striker is not easy, certainly at that level of club.
"He's come in, his level of finishing has been outstanding, so hopefully he can do that over the next two games and get a few goals for his country.
"I know he's desperate to score, because he feels that it's a long time since he scored for us. Last year, Gibraltar."