MANCHESTER United great Pat Crerand has predicted that Andy Robertson will flourish at Liverpool after becoming the first Scot to win a transfer to a top English club in years.
Robertson, the former Queen’s Park and Dundee United left back who is set to line up for Scotland in their Russia 2018 qualifier against Slovakia at Hampden tomorrow evening, moved from Hull City to Anfield in an £8 million switch in the close season.
But Cerand, who works as a pundit for Manchester United TV and covers all of the Old Trafford club’s Barclays Premier League matches, is disappointed at how few professionals from his homeland are playing at the leading outfits down south now.
“Andy Robertson is a good player,” he said. “He is a good defender and that is rare in this day and age. In England at the present time most full backs are wingers who are playing at full back. There aren’t many who can defend, but Andy can. He was good for Hull and I think he will do well for Liverpool.
“But when was the last time a top English team had a Scottish player before Andy? Darren Fletcher had a good career at United. But other than him I can’t think of any. It’s weird. When I was playing and Manchester United used to play Liverpool there would be six Scots on the park, three on either side. When you played Spurs you had Billy Brown, Dave Mackay, John White, world class players.
“What are they doing up there now? Playing shinty or something? People might have a go at me for saying this, but I think Scottish football is very poor.
“Having said that, there has been an influx of foreign players. Not many teams in the top flight in England have a lot of English players never mind Scottish, Irish or Welsh players. I think some clubs think that you must have to come from abroad to be a good player.”
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