This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Sheffield Wednesday’s Liam Palmer has certainly been reaping the rewards from his newfound place amongst Scotland’s starting line up as he has credited the likes of Scott McTominay and Andy Robertson for having such an impact on him.
What’s he said?
Scotland have now completed their Euro 2020 qualification campaign and will have to go through the process of a playoff eliminator in March before knowing whether or not they will make next summer’s tournament.
The current Owls squad is rife with players from north of the border, but it is only Palmer that has had the joy of being called up in recent times, and he has made the most of it by becoming Steve Clarke’s regular right-back option.
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The 28-year-old has since accredited his Scottish teammates, including Liverpool’s £54m-rated left-back, Robertson, and Manchester United’s £18m-valued academy graduate, McTominay.
Speaking to Wednesday’s official website, Palmer said:
“There are players like Scott McTominay and Andy Robertson who are doing great and that’s another one of the reasons you want to go away — you want to play with the best players in world football.
“Obviously Andy has been in back-to-back Champions League finals and to say you share a dressing room with someone of that calibre is great — you learn a lot as a full back as well.
“He’s the captain and he leads by example on and off the pitch. It is a real inspiration to be around him — he has that relentless desire to perform at the top level. It’s something that you can draw upon and try and do yourself.
“Scott McTominay is playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world in Manchester United, and you’ve got a lot of other Premier League lads and Scottish Premiership lads that are doing well week-in, week-out too. It’s good to be involved in that group.”
Learning curve
For a Championship player to be amongst a set up involving top-tier players, the sort that have played in European finals and even won the Champions League is only going to be a major positive.
The fact that Robertson plays a similar position to Palmer bodes well too, as he will have learned so much from a player that provided an impressive 11 assists last term.
You can tell by his comments that the Owls’ regular is simply in awe at the players he’s playing alongside – he’s called Robertson an ‘inspiration’ for instance.
This will only provide further confidence to his current domestic season, which will in turn benefit Garry Monk and the rest of the squad.
The 40-year-old will be hoping that his first-choice right-back has come back with a few bits of information that’ll strengthen his game.