Wilson and Curtis Leave the Senior Camp for Scotland’s Under-21s

Hearts striker James Wilson and Rangers winger Findlay Curtis have left Scotland’s senior camp in La Manga to join the under-21s. New head coach Sébastien Pocognoli still has both on the A-team list, and they can be called back later in this Nations League window.

The pair trained with the seniors in Spain, then headed home with under-21 coach Tony Docherty while the A squad prepared to fly to Slovenia. It is the first public sign that Scotland now treats the two age groups as one pool of players.

Wilson and Curtis Leave La Manga for the Under-21s

Wilson, 19, has two senior caps and debuted at 18 against Greece in March 2025. He has five Hearts goals this season and, on UEFA’s under-21 records, eight youth caps with four goals. Curtis, born on 1 October 2006, made his senior debut on 28 March 2026 as a substitute against Japan at Hampden and then went to the World Cup, where he featured against Haiti and Brazil.

Neither was expected to start in Ljubljana, so the staff chose competitive minutes over another week as training extras. Docherty takes them into his first camp since replacing long-serving under-21 coach Scot Gemmill, and the plan is that he can borrow fringe seniors and hand them back.

They miss the opening two Nations League games, away to Slovenia and at home to Switzerland. They remain in the senior pool and can still be recalled for North Macedonia away and the return with Slovenia at Hampden, if the calendar allows it.

The same window is packed on purpose. Pocognoli named an extended 28-man group on 15 September because the new Nations League format now loads four matches into one break, and he picked 14 players who did not go to the World Cup plus seven players still able to play at under-21 level. Wilson and Curtis are the first to move for real.

Four Senior Dates Sit Across Two Age Groups

Scotland’s seniors play four League B1 games by 6 October. The under-21s have two European Championship qualifiers in the same stretch, and one of those nights collides with a senior fixture.

THE SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER WINDOW

The 6 October overlap is the snag in the recall talk. If Docherty needs them in Bulgaria, they cannot also start for Pocognoli at Hampden that night. North Macedonia three days earlier is the cleaner re-entry point, and even that asks two teenagers to jump from a Kilmarnock qualifier to a senior away trip.

Docherty was in Spain with the senior group before turning back with the two forwards. More shuttles are expected if the first one works, because the SFA has spent the past month saying the 21s and the A team should share players, coaches and a style.

Scotland Under-21s Sit Third With No Direct Route

This is not a friendly tap-back to youth football. Scotland’s under-21s sit third in qualifying Group B, already marked as unable to go through as group winners, and they need a late run plus help if they are to reach the play-offs.

GROUP B AFTER EIGHT SCOTTISH GAMES

Portugal have not conceded in the group and beat Scotland 3-0 in March. Czechia are three points clear of Docherty’s side and have a game in hand. Bulgaria are level on points with Scotland and have also played a game fewer. Azerbaijan, the visitors to Rugby Park, have six points.

UEFA sends nine group winners and the best runner-up straight to next summer’s finals in Albania and Serbia, stripping out results against sixth-placed teams when it ranks those runners-up. The other eight second-placed sides go into November play-offs. Scotland cannot win the group from here. Docherty has called the remaining path a slim chance: win both remaining games and hope Czechia drop points.

Czechia face Azerbaijan on 25 September and Bulgaria host Portugal the same day, so that table can move before Wilson and Curtis even train with their new group. The under-21s then meet Azerbaijan on 30 September and travel to Bulgaria on 6 October.

What Pocognoli Put in His First Squad

Pocognoli, 39, signed a two-year deal on 16 August as only the second foreign head coach of the men’s team after Berti Vogts. He won the Belgian title with Union Saint-Gilloise in 2024/25, the club’s first in 90 years, then left Monaco in June. His first Scotland list was a form cut as much as a refresh.

Sébastien Pocognoli's first Scotland squad 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

➡️ More here: https://t.co/rnrAH89XKo
🎟️ https://t.co/ay7oj2Tsgp pic.twitter.com/aJFTCRu4CQ

— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) September 15, 2026

Robbie Ure, 22, scored 20 goals in 20 games for Sirius and moved to Sevilla for £5.5m. Luis Binks, 25, captains Brondby and last played for Scotland at under-18 level. Celtic’s Colby Donovan, Swansea’s Stephen Welsh, Hearts winger Josh McPake (two goals and four assists since joining from St Johnstone), Stoke’s Luke Graham and Bradford keeper Jon McCracken, who has six clean sheets since leaving Dundee, were the other first-time names in that 28.

Oli McBurnie is back five years after his 16th and last cap in 2021, following 18 Hull goals and a play-off final winner against Middlesbrough. Billy Gilmour returns after missing the World Cup with the injury he suffered against Curaçao. Captain Andy Robertson comes in on 97 caps. John McGinn arrived as Aston Villa’s record European scorer, his 12th goal in that competition coming against Club Brugge.

THE FIRST SQUAD IN NUMBERS

• 28 names: An extended list built for four games in one window, before withdrawals.
• 14 new to the World Cup group: Players who were not in the United States squad.
• Six from Serie A: Kieron Bowie, Josh Doig, Lewis Ferguson, Gilmour, Lennon Miller and Nathan Patterson, with Scott McTominay absent.
• Eight uncapped after 21 September: The original seven plus Blackburn’s Kristi Montgomery.

The first list already read as a break with loyalty picks. Experienced centre-backs who had been ever-present under Steve Clarke were left out, and the live argument around the camp has been shape, not sentiment: whether the 3-4-1-2 that won Union a title can stand up in League B without McTominay. Pocognoli has said he wants a mix of senior heads and new faces, and that he picked men who are playing well rather than names he fancied for a trial.

I have to start a new journey, start a new book. What happened in the coming months and years is part of the past. Now I have to build something.

Sébastien Pocognoli, Scotland head coach, first-squad briefing

He has also drawn a hard line on dual-national calls. Luis Binks, who played under-21 football for Scotland and England, was told the timing was right. Pocognoli said he will not chase anyone who needs persuading to pull on dark blue.

McTominay’s Recovery Leaves a Hole in Midfield

The shuttle of two young forwards sits on top of a thinner senior spine than the 28-man sheet first implied. Napoli confirmed a mild benign arrhythmia for McTominay after he came off in a 2-1 defeat by Como, and he had a pulsed-field ablation at Spire Manchester Hospital on 8 September that the club called a complete success.

WHO IS ALREADY OUT OF LJUBLJANA

• Scott McTominay: Told to rest two weeks, then train; Napoli said on 24 September he was back in the gym at the club’s training centre, aiming to play after this break.
• Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean: Withdrew after club injuries, taking 119 caps out of the group between them.
• Ché Adams and Lawrence Shankland: Already missing when the squad was named, Shankland with a hamstring problem.
• Kristi Montgomery in: The 22-year-old Blackburn midfielder, who has started all eight Championship matches, was promoted from the under-21s as the only replacement and became the eighth uncapped player in the party.

Montgomery’s promotion is the shuttle running the other way. One 22-year-old leaves the 21s because two seniors are hurt; two teenagers leave the A camp because they need a match. Alan Irvine stays as assistant, joined by Luke Benstead and Cameron Campbell, with Chris Woods remaining as goalkeeping coach, while Andrew Hughes has left for Athletic Bilbao.

That staff has had one week in the Murcian heat to install a press and, most likely, a back three. Sessions have been heavy enough that at least one was cut short. Meetings have run past midnight. The first public exam is still a 2pm kick-off in Ljubljana, not a training clip from Spain.

The SFA Lined Up a Shared Pathway Before Camp

The move only looks sudden if you ignore August. The Scottish FA named Docherty, 55, as a national youth-team coach leading the under-21s on 24 August, with Steven Naismith, 39, as his assistant. Chief football officer Craig Mulholland put Pocognoli in that hiring process on purpose.

It was important that Sébastien also participated in the recruitment process, given how closely the 21’s will align with the A squad as we build our national team DNA, methodology and behaviours.

Craig Mulholland, Scottish FA chief football officer, 24 August 2026

Docherty will also lead a Future Managers scheme, sit on a new talent-id process and support four clubs in a Club Growth programme. Naismith, who was on Clarke’s staff when Scotland reached a first World Cup since 1998, will run a mentorship scheme for young players. Youth-team coaches are no longer tied to one age group. They will rotate, so the same staff know the same talents as they move up.

Mulholland later confirmed the rest of that youth line, with Tam Courts on the under-19s, David McCallum on the under-17s and a brief to keep how closely the 21s will align with the seniors. Docherty has already said he will copy the senior style of play. Wilson and Curtis are the first bodies to cross that line in a match week.

Naismith put the point in plainer words than any strategy paper. He said there is a burning desire inside the association that Scotland should not wait another 28 years for a World Cup, and that the foundations Clarke left should be pushed further rather than boxed up.

Ljubljana Starts a Four-Game Stretch

Scotland open against Slovenia in Ljubljana on 26 September, then host Switzerland at Barclays Hampden on 29 September, visit North Macedonia on 3 October and bring Slovenia to Glasgow on 6 October. Two more group games follow in November. Promotion from League B is the football task. The other task is to prove the shuttle is a method, not a one-off loan of two kids who were not going to start.

Tickets remain on sale for the Hampden dates with Switzerland and Slovenia, and for November’s home game with North Macedonia. The full away allocation is already gone to Scotland Supporter Club members.

Wilson and Curtis will be in Kilmarnock colours of a different kind on 30 September, trying to take points off Azerbaijan while Robertson, McGinn and Gilmour try to take points off Switzerland 24 hours earlier. If the idea holds, the same two forwards could be in Skopje four days after that. If it does not, 6 October will force a choice the new structure has not yet had to make.

Pocognoli’s squad is due in Ljubljana for that 2pm kick-off at Stadion Stožice. Wilson and Curtis are due the other way, toward Rugby Park, with a qualifier to win and a senior recall still listed for later in the same window.