From Aberdeen to Zagreb: The Scottish football phenomenon that is no longer raising eyebrows

The reason the photograph catches the attention is not just because McKenna looks every bit as happy as anyone who has just a signed “multi-year” contract - as it’s been described – with the Croatian giants should look. Also drawing focus is the state of the two, it might even be three, suitcases that are included in the picture beside him. They appear be in pretty good condition.

How can that be possible? They ought at the very least to look slightly battered. McKenna’s career itinerary now reads like the tour stops of a rock band on a second-album-fans’-consolidation tour: places include Aberdeen, Nottingham, Copenhagen, Las Palmas and now Zagreb, where judging by the reaction, he’s been welcomed with considerable enthusiasm by the locals who admire his intrepidness.

As for back home, the news has been greeted more matter-of-factly. “Aye, I see that’s McKenna away to Zagreb,” people are noting with a shrug. I mean, when two Scots have just lifted the Scudetto and another triumphed in the Italian Cup, it will take something pretty special to register on the Scots abroad Richter scale. There’s also Max Johnston at current Austrian Bundesliga champions Sturm Graz.

All this seems very pertinent as speculation continues about where Johnston’s former Motherwell teammate Lennon Miller will be playing football come the Autumn internationals. Abroad? “Yeah, Potentially,” said his dad, the former Aberdeen forward Lee, last week.

Miller appears ideally suited to playing on the continent. About to turn 19, it might be early for the talented midfielder to make such a move, but he looked mature beyond his years while making his full Scotland debut against Liechtenstein in June. He's already comfortable wearing the captain’s armband at Fir Park.

So many examples for Scots to look at

He might look towards Scott McTominay, a current demigod at Napoli, and think yes, I quite some fancy some of that. Then there’s Oli Burke, more successful on the continent than he is in Britain it seems. His adventures continue with Bundesliga side Union Berlin next season.

Perhaps it’s understandable that tales of Scots abroad seem somewhat ten a penny these days. A friend recently sent a picture from a bar in Prague. As well as the Tour de France, where a Scot Oscar Onley is currently making an impact, the TV sport options being offered were the Champions League qualifier between Malmo and FC Iberia 1999 and “Hamilton v Hearts in the Scottish Legue (sic) Cup”.

Borders are increasingly irrelevant and have been going that way for a long time in fact. Players such as McKenna are becoming as recognisable abroad as they are in the streets of say, England, where Scottish footballers were and still are found in large numbers.

Scots were perhaps slow to take up these far-flung opportunities, while clubs abroad were also slow to explore the Scottish market. Now, however, it’s a case of go west, young man (Ryan Gauld is at Vancouver Whitecaps while Johnny Russell scored as recently as two weeks ago for Real Salt Lake City)– and east, north and south. Dundee’s Fin Robertson even spent part of this summer training with Sergio Ramos and co at CF Monterrey.

Jason Cummings recently featured in an entertaining episode of Open Goal. “I love it mate – it’s a different world out there,” reported the striker, who is now playing for Indian Super League club Mohun Bagan. The 29-year-old doesn’t sound in a hurry to come back although he is of course nearer to where he now plays international football for Australia.

Cummings’ quote about it being a different world might be verging on Ian Rush’s immortal observation that swapping Liverpool for Juventus was “like going to a different country”. However, it seems a fair assessment, underlined by him describing pre-match scenes that included a “ten-year old boy riding a horse waving a flare”. He was further enticed by his agent’s discovery that there was “Kingfisher on tap” in Kolkata.

Cummings is having a ball and might not be thinking too deeply about the whys and wherefores of playing abroad and how it’s helping his own development, as a person as well as a player. Miller might be different.

McKenna, meanwhile, is a thoughtful character from Kirriemuir who led his country out at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City at the age of just 22. He has now amassed 43 caps, with two of them coming against Croatia. Fitness permitting, he can look forward to a Europa League campaign which might even see him take on his first club, Aberdeen. Little seems out of the ordinary for Scottish footballers now.