Surprise call for son of former West Brom skipper on eve of World Cup showpiece

Tyler Fletcher, son of former Albion skipper Darren, has earned an 11th-hour call to Scotland’s World Cup squad.

The 19-year-old travelled to Florida with his international colleagues on Sunday after the late inclusion.

He replaced the stricken Billy Gilmour, who picked up a knee injury in Saturday’s 4-1 warm-up friendly victory against Curacao at Hampden.

Tyler made his Scotland bow as he replaced Napoli’s Gilmour as a half-time substitute.

It was then confirmed that boss Steve Clarke, the former Hawthorns chief, selected the midfield prospect as Gilmour’s replacement in his 26-man tournament squad.

Tyler made his Manchester United debut this season as a substitute in the victory over Tottenham in March and also appeared from the bench against Brighton in May.

His 45 minutes for Scotland exceeds the amount of minutes at club level this season.

The midfielder and twin brother Jack are both products of the Old Trafford academy where dad Darren is head coach of the under-18s.

Boss Clarke insisted he had “no doubts” about handing the teen an international debut.

"Everybody was impressed,” Clarke said. “The players were impressed, the coaching staff were impressed, so I had no doubts."

Experienced Scotland international Kenny McLean added there were similarities between former United and Albion star Darren in training.

He said: "I said to the lads after his first (training) session that I could see something special in him.

"In my first session with Scotland, Darren stood out a mile - and, fortunately for us, his son is pretty similar."

Former Albion skipper Fletcher was an influential leader during his spell at The Hawthorns between 2015 and 2017.

He departed Old Trafford after almost 350 appearances to agree a two-and-a-half year deal with Albion as a free transfer in January of the 2014/15 campaign under new boss Tony Pulis.

He was immediately appointed captain by Pulis and was an authoritative and guiding figure to younger colleagues throughout his time in the Black Country.

With Fletcher in the side the Baggies recorded top flight finishes of 13th, 14th and 10th. He scored six times in 97 games.

Fletcher left for Stoke - his final club - as a free transfer in 2017 and spent two seasons in the Potteries. He earned 80 caps in total for Scotland.

Fletcher started his coaching journey with United in October 2020 and has coached at first-team level.

Clarke’s Scotland begin their World Cup campaign in group C with a clash against Haiti in the early hours of Sunday, June 14 (2am BST).

They face Morocco on June 19 and Brazil on June 24.