Harvey Barnes would 'love' Scotland squad as Newcastle forward sent 'personal' World Cup plea

That is according to former Scotland international Pat Nevin who remains hopeful that the Newcastle United forward will pull on the navy blue jersey at the World Cup next summer.

Barnes was capped by England in a friendly against Wales in October 2020 but has not played any senior international football since. He remains eligible to be called up by Scotland through his grandparents and has refused to close the door on the possibility.

The 27-year-old left winger has been in excellent form of late with seven goals in his last 13 appearances for Newcastle including four in the Champions League leading to calls for Scotland head coach Steve Clarke to pick up the phone.

"Harvey... you’ll love the place!" Nevin told talkSPORT Bet. "You’ll love the squad. That is a direct, personal plea. The group is fantastic. What a ride it would be with Scotland. And it’s not finished after that - there are good players.

“There is a slight difficulty of waiting out somebody who might miss out who has stuck by Clarkey all the way through, but I think there is space there for Harvey Barnes. The limited chances for England... Once again, that position is buzzing with good players. It’s going to be difficult for him. Harvey Barnes would never regret choosing Scotland."

Nevin reckons Scotland have received a tough but exciting World Cup draw after being paired with Haiti, Morocco and Brazil in Group C as he pinpointed the match against the Moroccans as the key match.

"It’s exciting. Obviously, it didn't matter who you got, it would be exciting. But it wasn’t a great draw for Scotland, I have to be absolutely honest. The games are played in areas where you’d quite like to hang about - Boston is alright!

"But in reality, Brazil is a long shot to get anything from if you’re talking about getting through. Obviously, Haiti is the one that Scotland need to win. If they win that first game, they’ve got a chance. In fact, if you win that first game and lose both the others, you still get a chance.

"But it probably will come down to the Morocco game, just like it did in ’98. I was at all three games in ’98 covering it in the media, trying to keep my petted lip out of the way because I thought I should have been in the squad! It was torture that time because we felt Morocco were a team that could be beaten. We were serious favourites against the Moroccans on that occasion. But on this occasion, it’s very much the reverse."

Nevin followed Morocco's progress closely as they reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 before losing 2-0 to France. He has warned Scotland to expect a difficult match.

"I went to all their games and they were brilliant," he added. "I fell madly in love with them. I thought they were a great team - so exciting, so attack-minded. The effort was off the scale. So, anybody who hasn’t watched a lot of Morocco: if you’re Scottish, we’ve got a job on.

"Yeah, I do. I like Morocco a lot. A lot happens in three or four years with any team, and there are others that could possibly be dark horses. The fact that there are more teams than ever before makes it a hard one to call because you haven’t had a chance to see them all.

"Morocco got all the way to the semi-final last time. Fantastic. The expectations were not at that level for any African team. So, keep an eye on them. They’re really, really good. I hope Scotland can get a point off them. Beat Haiti, and a point [against Morocco] - yeah, that’ll do it for me."