Declan Gallagher hoping Dundee Utd form can help him win Scotland recall

Declan Gallagher remains confident he can get back into the Scotland squad if he and Dundee United can maintain their encouraging start to the season.

The 33-year-old centre-back won nine caps under Steve Clarke while at Motherwell between 2019 and 2021 and was part of the Euro 2020 squad, but he has not been called up since September 2022 when he was at St Mirren.

Gallagher’s progress was derailed by a difficult 2021/22 campaign at Aberdeen but after being hindered by injury last term following his move to United, he has now started to reassert himself in the Scottish Premiership.

The defender has started each of United’s last eight games as they have soared to fourth in the league and progressed to the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup.

Manager Jim Goodwin said this week Gallagher is “playing his most consistent football of his last three or four seasons” and that “a really fit Declan Gallagher is as good as any centre-back in the league”.

Asked ahead of Friday’s quarter-final away to former club Motherwell if he still harboured further international ambitions, Gallagher said: “Absolutely, I think about Scotland all the time.

“I’m choking for my 10th cap so if Steve Clarke wants to give me a phone, I’ll happily answer that. If I play well for Dundee United, just like I did at Motherwell or St Mirren, I’m sure I can catch his eye again, but who knows?

“Keeping my performances high for Dundee United is the only way I’ll get a chance to get back to Scotland. I absolutely believe I can get back to that level. I believe in myself and if I stay injury-free and I keep playing the way I’m playing and Dundee United stay up the league, I’m sure I can catch the eye again.

“When I got my call-ups previously, it was all due to my team doing well and how well I was doing for that team. It was never just down to me as an individual. It was about how good the team was doing and I ended up getting call-ups on top of that, so if Dundee United are doing well and I’m doing well, there’s always that chance.”

Gallagher is braced for jeers on Friday from Motherwell fans still annoyed that he left under freedom of contract to join Aberdeen in 2021, but he feels their animosity towards him is unfair.

“I’m actually quite surprised that I get such a hostile view from them because when I was there we finished third in the Covid season and I was captain the next year,” he said.

“A lot of things came out about my contract situation and stuff but something a lot of fans maybe don’t know is that before I left Motherwell I signed a one-month extension on my contract so that Motherwell received the bonus money for me going to the Euros with Scotland (in 2021) which I don’t think was ever highlighted.

“I think if a few Motherwell fans knew that was the case and that I earned the club money rather than just taking the money and leaving, they would maybe think differently.

“I loved my time at Motherwell, I played in Europe for them, I captained them, but at the end of the day I’ll be looking to try and put them out this week.”

United boss Goodwin has a full squad to choose from with the exception of long-term absentee Ryan Strain.