THE strange case of Jack Harper just got a little bit more curious.

A Scotland Under-19 coach talking through the names in his squad is usually regarded by editors as little more than fodder for the digest but that wasn't the case when Ricky Sbragia made his announcement for the forthcoming elite round matches at that age group in Austria. Instead, there was nationwide incredulity that Scotland would wilfully deprive themselves of the services of a player currently turning heads at Real Madrid, while the likes of Oliver McBurnie, currently plying his trade at Conference side Chester City on-loan from League One outfit Bradford, are welcomed into the fold.

Okay so McBurnie himself once featured for Manchester United in the prestigious Milk Cup competition but Harper's omission, and the former Manchester United youth coach's explanation for it, certainly played into all the same old fault lines. Surely this was a retrenchment of positions in this new post-Mark Wotte era? A return to the supposedly old school Scottish coaching orthodoxy where winning matches is the be all and end all and even a willowy 6ft tall youngster can be regarded as 'not physical enough?'

"At Real Madrid, Jack can float all over the place, which he does," was Sbragia's blunt assessment. "But with us he has to be more disciplined. He's an exceptionally gifted lad but we can't carry him. He can be a luxury sometimes. In some cases, if it's going well, he can be a good luxury. And listen, Jack's time will come. But I've gone for a physical side and runners. Hopefully I'm proved right in Austria. It's purely a tactical decision."

At this point it might be worth a brief beginners' guide to the man who has 16 goals this season for Madrid's Juvenil A (Under-19) side, and who played a starring role in the club's Uefa Youth League matches. Born in Malaga to two fiercely patriotic Scottish parents 19 years ago, young Harper has spent his entire life in Spain and twice had his contract renewed by the Madrid giants. Happiest playing as a classic No 10 or second striker, the plan is for him to spend next season with Madrid's C team, the next with the B team and so on.

His time with Scotland has rarely been quite so straightforward, however. Despite being involved since Under-15 level, in truth Harper has always been peripheral, the view perhaps taken by coaches at times that it was preferable for his development for him to remain at Madrid. Having said that, few trips have been made to scout him in person - indeed Wotte is thought to have been the last to travel out to Spain to do so - and consequently when it came to the Under-19 qualifying round in Lithuania last October, Sbragia seemed unsure exactly where to fit him in.

As it was, the Scots drew all three matches, yet still qualified - behind Norway and Lithuania - as the best third placed team in the continent. Harper started just one of the three matches, in a left midfield role which required him to work back frequently, and player and manager are understood to have had a frank discussion, but not an argument, about it afterwards.

So where do we go from here? Well, without naming names, Gordon Strachan seemed to allude to the likes of Islam Feruz - another favoured child of Wotte's who never lived up to the promise - when he spoke on the subject yesterday. "I'm not involved in that at all - I let the other guys get on with it," said the Scotland manager. "I've no idea if it's physical or whatever. Has anyone seen him play? I've seen a few people at Chelsea who never get a game anywhere. They go on loan somewhere and disappear into no man's land."

While Harper had clearly hoped to be in this squad, he has no intention of disappearing anywhere. His dream remains to represent Scotland at full international level. One day, hopefully, we will all look back on this and laugh.