Steve Clarke is without several stars for next week's friendly double header against Japan and Ivory Coast
18:11, 19 Mar 2026
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Ben Gannon-Doak, Lawrence Shankland and Aaron Hickey
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola has hinted that Ben Gannon-Doak could make his injury comeback against Manchester United on Friday.
The winger has been on the sidelines since limping off with a hamstring problem in the early stages of Scotland's epic 4-2 win over Denmark in November that secured automatic qualification for next summer's World Cup finals in North America.
Gannon-Doak successfully underwent surgery for the issue later that month and has steadily been building up his fitness ahead of a return to action.
The former Liverpool and Celtic youngster hasn't featured for the Cherries since appearing as a late substitute in a 3-1 defeat to Manchester City on November 2.
And despite not being included by Steve Clarke's Scotland squad for next week's friendly double header against Japan and Ivory Coast, Spaniard Iraola has confirmed that he is available for selection at the Vitality Stadium tomorrow night. Asked about Gannon-Doak's fitness, he replied that the speedster "has the chance to play some minutes."
Another forward player who missed out on the latest Scotland squad through injury is Hearts skipper Lawrence Shankland.
The 30-year-old has missed the Jambos last eight league matches in pursuit of the Premiership title after suffering a hamstring injury during their Scottish Cup fourth round loss on penalties to Falkirk on January 17.
But ahead of their clash with Dundee on Saturday, gaffer Derek McInnes has revealed that Shankland and influential midfielder Cammy Devlin are both in contention to feature for the league leaders this weekend.
McInnes was asked about both players' chances of starting the game and responded: "I would need to weigh all that up. I think there’s obviously a temptation with that.
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Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland(Image: SNS Group)
"But we also don’t want to put ourselves in a position where you put both boys at risk and then we lose them again, so we’ll weigh all this up really with the medical team this week.
"Watching them training this week has been great, it looks as if they’ve not been away. I’ll chat with the lads as well and see how we’re fixed."
One Scotland star who has had a torrid time with injury in recent years is Brentford's Aaron Hickey. The full back joined the Bees from Serie A side Bologna in July 2022 but has been restricted to just 60 appearances in total for the West London club.
A hamstring injury picked up in October 2023 robbed the ex Hearts kid of the chance of representing his country at Euro 2024, and the problem was so serious that he was unable to make a single appearance in the whole of last season.
Hickey, 23, made his long-awaited return after 659 days on the treatment table when he came off the bench in a 3-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest in August.
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The versatile defender was ruled out of Scotland's double header this month after his hamstring injury recurred during Brentford's Premier League fixture with Brighton on February 2021 but is expected to return to fitness after the international break.