McLeish and Bryan Gunn played together at Aberdeen in the 1980s.
Scotland manager Alex McLeish has admitted that he’s in “constant dialogue” with the father of Southampton goalkeeper Angus Gunn and has previously asked him whether the 23-year-old would be willing to accept an international call-up.
Bryan Gunn, a retired goalkeeper, played with McLeish at Aberdeen and was part of the squad which won the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup against Real Madrid in Gothenburg, albeit on the substitutes’ bench for the showpiece encounter.
Gunn Jr was born in Norwich and has plied his trade in England, as well as making international appearances solely for the Three Lions thus far in his career, but McLeish said he has enquired with the player’s father over the possibility of playing for Scotland.
“I’ve been in constant dialogue with big Bryan Gunn for over a year, one of the Gothenburg guys,” the 60-year-old is quoted by FourFourTwo as saying. “We have a Gothenburg group and the other players tease him about it, then I have to send a private (message) saying ‘Does Angus want to play for Scotland?’”
Nonetheless, McLeish was eager to stress that Gunn Jr would have “no guarantee” of instantly becoming first choice, going on to praise Celtic keeper, Scott Bain, Millwall goalie Jordan Archer and Sunderland stopper Jon McLaughlin, the three custodians in the squad for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Kazakhstan and San Marino later this month.
“I don’t really want to talk about guys who are not available to us at the moment, and get right behind the three goalkeepers we have, who are all terrific players,” he added.
Gunn Jr left Manchester City and joined Southampton last summer for a reported £10.17million fee and has made 10 appearances in all competitions for the south coast club so far, including five in the Premier League (Transfermarkt).
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