OLI McBurnie has a habit of hitting the headlines. It hasn’t stopped him also having the happy knack of hitting the back of the net.

Before the world even knew who he was, this gangly young chap was being castigated for having the temerity to keep Real Madrid’s Jack Harper out of a Scotland Under-19 squad. McBurnie kept his thoughts to himself and kept banging the goals in.

Fast forward to this summer and it was he - with his socks rolled down near his ankles and sporting an ostentatious hipster beard - and not Harper who briefly became Scotland’s record signing, his move from Brighton the Sheffield United sealed with a cool £20m. After 24 goals in the campaign just past, he is already off and running as a Premier League player.

Now comes the latest obstacle capable of throwing him off his scoring stride, the social media clip which appeared to show him making derogatory comments about the attraction of joining up with Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad. While he has had the maturity to set the record straight about the incident with the team-mates and manager, what will really allow everyone to forget all about it will be getting on the scoresheet in this weekend’s double header against Russia and Belgium.

McBurnie might just be one of those players who thrives under the pressure. Because one way or another he certainly manages to heap plenty of it onto his shoulders.

“Look he’s here,” said Reid, Clarke’s assistant coach at Scotland. “And the manager has openly said that he only wants committed players to be involved. If that wasn’t the case, then I don’t think Oli – or any other squad member – would be here.

“It’s a fully committed squad, a fully committed Oli,” he added. “And it’s a big opportunity for him now, for obvious reasons with the positions up for grabs. So hopefully he can bring his good start with Sheffield United into the international fold.

“He’ got a big price tag, a big move to the Premier League, the best league in the world – and everyone’s watching. Sometimes price tags like that bring a bit of pressure.

“Time will tell if he’s good enough, that’s the ultimate test. But so far he’s dealt with it really well in the opening weeks of the season. Hopefully he carries it into this camp.

“Oli’s got a bit of character about him and he’s confident in his own ability. I’m really looking forward to working with him.”

McBurnie isn’t the first and he certainly won’t be the last to fall foul of the camera phone, which is fast becoming the curse of the modern football player. “As soon as players leave their front door these days they have to be careful,” said Reid. “Nights out especially, talking to people who might want to record you and ask you an innocent question and then it’s out on social media.

“With camera phones and things like that it’s a little bit different to what it used to be and they need to be very careful with the company they keep and nights out they’re having. It’s escalated massively even since I retired in terms of social media.”

Listening to Reid speak yesterday – and knowing how Clarke works – whether McBurnie, assuming he plays this Friday in our clash against Russians, gets on the scoresheet will only ever be part of the occasion. Perhaps it was ever thus with Scotland, but part of the role of the frontman for this country is to be the first line of defence. That is something which his rival for a first-team jersey, Steven Naismith, does instinctively. “I was lucky to play alongside some top strikers and someone like Shane Long’s springs to mind as someone who didn’t stop working,” he added. “All strikers want to score goals but it’s about both sides of the game and for someone like Oli it’s about that defensive side of the game.”

Four points out of six in our two matches against the Russians in the next two months would seem like a minimum requirement if we are to qualify as of right – presumably behind Belgium.

“It is a big game,” admitted Reid, an international scorer for the Republic of Ireland in a friendly against the Russians. “I don’t think we are getting to must win scenarios but there’s no doubt about it, over the next three games we need to pick points up.”

Whether Clarke goes with McBurnie, Naismith, Matt Phillips – he has scored two in five games for an unbeaten West Brom side - or even Robert Snodgrass up top, the other main dilemma is over who partners Charlie Mulgrew at the back. Liam Cooper of Leeds United is perhaps the man in pole position, with Aberdeen’s Mikey Devlin and Sheffield Wednesday’s David Bates also in the mix. “It isn’t ideal but at the same time it is an opportunity for those who do come in,” says Reid.