Swansea defender Stephen Welsh believes his maiden Scotland call-up has come at the perfect time because he feels in the form of his life and ready to do himself justice.
The 26-year-old is one of several fresh faces included in the squad by new national team boss Sebastien Pocognoli for the current four-game Nations League camp.
Centre-back Welsh has earned his call-up on the back of an excellent start to the season with Sky Bet Championship leaders Swansea after excelling on loan at Motherwell from boyhood club Celtic last term.
“I can’t thank the manager enough because it’s obviously a big ambition to be called up for your national team and hopefully he can trust me enough to go and play a good part,” Welsh said in an interview with the Scottish Football Association.
“This is definitely something I’ve been building towards and it’s probably come at the right time because the last 18 months has definitely been the best football I’ve played at Motherwell and now at Swansea.
“I think the timing has probably been as good as it could be. It’s been a long time coming, a long time not getting called up, but to do it now is better later than never.”
Despite being one of several uncapped players at Scotland’s training camp in La Manga as they prepare for Saturday’s Nations League opener away to Slovenia, Welsh – who previously represented his country up to under-21 level – is also one of the older heads in Pocognoli’s squad.
“Obviously you’ve got Robbo (Andy Robertson) and John McGinn that are the most experienced in the team, they’ve had the most caps, they know exactly what it’s all about,” said Welsh.
“Then you’ve got the young lads coming in and I’m probably somewhere in the middle of that. I’ve obviously not had a cap yet but I think my experiences over the last few years probably helps me right now.
“I would say it’s probably perfect timing for me to come into the squad.”
Welsh has enjoyed his first few days working under Pocognoli and is confident the players will have taken on board enough information from the Belgian in order to implement what he wants them to do in Ljubljana this weekend.
“We’re probably lucky the way the games have fallen that we’re on the Saturday, so he’s got an extra couple of days to work with the squad, although it is a short amount of time,” said Welsh.
“What I’ve seen so far is top-level coaching, good detail and understanding of how we want to play.
“I think the lads will say we already have a good idea of what we want to do and we’ve only had a few training sessions.
“I’m sure we’ll be ready to go, I’ve got no doubt that the squad will be very well prepared in what we’re going to do.”
Hearts forward James Wilson and Rangers winger Findlay Curtis have left the full squad in order to join up with the Under-21s ahead of their European Championship qualifier against Azerbaijan next Wednesday.
