JAMES Forrest has stressed he is in peak condition and eager to continue playing this summer as he prepares for his final game before Scotland manager Steven Clarke selects his provisional squad for Euro 2020.
The Celtic winger spent over five months on the sidelines this season after undergoing ankle surgery and missed the national team’s play-off matches against Israel and Serbia last year.
However, the 35-times capped 29-year-old has performed well at club level since returning to action back in March and was superb in the 4-0 win over St Johnstone on Wednesday night.
Clarke will name his 26 man squad – UEFA have increased the number of players a coach can take to the finals by three due to the coronavirus pandemic – on Wednesday.
And Forrest, who is set to feature for John Kennedy’s team in their last Premiership match against Hibernian at Easter Road tomorrow, is hopeful he has done enough to be included in the first major international tournament of his career.
“I’m feeling good,” he said. “The last couple of months have been good for me to get back into the routine of training. I’ve been building up my fitness in the games and been buzzing to be back. I’ve been loving being out there with the boys playing again.
“I haven’t talked with Steve Clarke recently because I’ve only really been focusing on Celtic and getting back playing. The last camp (for the Qatar 2022 qualifiers back in March) came too early for me as I’d only played 10 minutes. The other boys had been doing really well too.
“But I spoke to him a couple of camps earlier. He obviously has so many boys to choose from but I just want to stay fit and be part of it.
“Once the boys qualified everyone was buzzing for the finals. As a player you want to play against the best players and the best teams. Scotland haven’t been at a tournament for so long that everyone wants to be part of it.
“Let’s hope I can be. I’m feeling good again and don’t really want the season to end. But hopefully that’ll help me next season too when some boys may want a break and I’ll be raring to go.”
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