Lewis Morgan would love to be surrounded by Celtic club-mates with Scotland

LEWIS MORGAN is determined to be part of the young guns who can fire Scotland to a World Cup Finals.

The Celtic winger can’t remember watching the national team playing in a major tournament.

He was only a year old when Craig Brown took the Scots to participate in France 98.

Morgan believes that the Dark Blues can emulate that success with a team featuring several rising stars that play for champions.

Morgan’s first two caps came during the recent end-of-season trip to Peru and Mexico.

Hoops team-mates Jack Hendry and Scott Bain also made their debuts on the international stage, while Ryan Christie played for the second time.

With Callum McGregor an increasing influence, Kieran Tierney seemingly unstoppable and Leigh Griffiths the main goal threat, Scotland could have a real green-and-white streak if they reach Qatar in 2022.

Morgan said: “It’s always important for national teams to be looking to build for the future.

“We’ve got quite a plethora of young players, who are coming through now.

“I’m happy to, hopefully, play my part in that.

“I feel as if I’m ready to make that step, which I’m sure others are as well.

“It’s always an honour to play for your country.

“It gives you a taste for it and I certainly want more.

“I would have liked a few more minutes on the pitch during the recent tour, but I enjoyed the time I got.

“I’m not going to turn my nose up at anything. If I got 30 seconds in both games, that would have been great.

“But that’s just the type of character I am. I’m hungry and want to play as much as I can and, hopefully, I can do that for Celtic, too.”

The former St Mirren man is a believer in club partnerships benefiting the country.

He went on: “These are players that you train with every day and you know them inside out.

“That can only be an advantage to the national team.

“With how they have performed domestically, you can’t turn down the opportunity to play these players.

“Celtic have a good core of Scottish talent, and they’ve proven over the last few years why they are the biggest team in the country. So it’s important for the national team to take these kind of players, and build their team around that.

“I was born when Scotland last made the World Cup, but I’ve never seen them at a major Finals.

“It would be be new to me, but that’s where you want to be.

“That’s why it’s the biggest football event in the world, because it’s so hard to get into.”

Morgan looks at some of his former Scotland Under-21 team-mates, and sees other candidates to become Scotland regulars.

He said: “Oli McBurnie and Scott McKenna are the sort of guys I’ve been playing with at that level in qualifying.

“I know what they’re capable of, and they’re certainly strong enough.

“Scott got handed the captain’s armband for the Mexico game, and that was great for him.

“It’s good that the manager is giving young players a chance, and providing us with the platform to go on and try to progress.

“We need to try to stake a claim to stay in the squad when the next qualifying campaign comes around.

“There’s definitely now a nucleus of young players who are ready to break through. Kieran Tierney has already done it, and it’s players like him I want to go and play alongside at Celtic.

“That can help me take my game to the next level.

“We sometimes forget how young Kieran is.

“He captained Scotland when he was only 20 and his success gives me a bit of extra motivation.”