Scotland's Euro 2024 injury woes take further twist as Stuart Armstrong situation addressed

The playmaker suffered an injury while playing for Southampton at the weekend

Scotland midfielder Stuart Armstrong faces a race against time to be fit for Euro 2024 after the 32-year-old was carried off on a stretcher during Southampton’s 2-1 defeat at Cardiff on Saturday, although his club manager says he will do all he can to get the playmaker fit for the summer.

Saints boss Russell Martin confirmed Armstrong is unlikely to play for them again this season but hopes he will be available for his country this summer. “It’s his quad, it’s a muscle injury,” Martin told the Southampton website. “We’ll do everything we can to get him fit for the Euros for Scotland.

“I think he has a big chance for that, I don’t think he has any chance of playing for us really. He has a big hope of getting in the Scotland squad because he’s been fantastic for them and for us this season and has been in every squad, and I think there’s a realistic chance with the injury he has to be fit for that.

Scotland's Stuart Armstrong, who faces a race against time to be fit for Euro 2024.

“So we will do everything we can as a football club to help him get there. It wasn’t as serious as we all feared but it is serious enough to keep him out for a period of time now where he can’t help us unfortunately.”

Armstrong won his 50th international cap in last month’s 1-0 defeat by Northern Ireland at Hampden Park and has consistently been a part of Scotland manager Steve Clarke’s squad. However, injury concerns are mounting for Clarke ahead of the tournament, especially in defence. Right-backs Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson are both battling hamstring injuries. Hickey has not featured at all for Brentford in 2024 as he continues to recover from a training-ground muscle tear, while Patterson will not play again this season for Everton and is expected to have an operation. In-form Bologna midfielder Lewis Ferguson, who was recently linked again with a summer move to Juventus, has been ruled out of the Euros entirely after undergoing surgery on a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Scotland’s first match of the tournament is against hosts Germany on June 14, before they take on Switzerland on June 19 and then Hungary on June 23.