Scotland manager Alex McLeish keeping an eye on Che Adams

McLeish, whose side begin their qualifying campaign with an away double-header against Kazakhstan and San Marino in March, said: "We have looked at Che. We are a small nation, we won't leave any stone unturned and Che has been in good form.

"At the moment he wants to keep himself playing at club level, he's had a good season, we have charted his progress, so we will keep that one open.

"We will leave it up to him just now and we will keep monitoring the situation. It was amicable discussions with him and his representative.

"I never spoke to Che personally but we have noticed his form and we think we can enhance his career and it would be up to him now."

In a group that also contains Belgium, Russia and Cyprus, McLeish accepts the Scots have to hit the ground running in the away double-header.

The former Scotland defender said: "It is competition time. We have to get the competition heads on.

"We will put down some pointers for the players in terms of how we go about the campaign.

"We need a strategy and obviously there will be tactics from game to game."

Amid controversy surrounding the standards of officials in Scotland, with reports claiming that the Scottish Football Association is to consider introducing foreign referees to the Premiership, McLeish gave his backing to the whistlers.

He said: "It is the scrutiny, we have social media, there is no hiding place. I feel for the referees, I was always sympathetic even in my day.

"I wasn't trying to get decisions, it was more accepting that we had a job to do and they had a job to do.

"The scrutiny now is absolutely intense. Give these guys a break, get behind them. We have to try to help the referees in our country as much as possible.

"These guys are brought up here, let's encourage them and help them to be better. I say back our boys, that's my stance on it."

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