Scotland striker Lyndon Dykes has been ruled out of Euro 2024 after suffering an injury in training on Friday.
The 28-year-old — who plays his club football in the Championship with QPR — was a key figure in guiding Scotland to this summer’s tournament, featuring in all eight of their qualifiers and starting in five of them.
To date, Dykes has 36 senior caps to his name, scoring nine goals, one of which came in a 2-1 comeback win away in Norway during Euro 2024 qualifying.
However, the physical striker will not join his teammates in Germany after he was stretchered out of Scotland training on Friday.
Following an injury in training yesterday, Lyndon Dykes has been ruled out of the squad for UEFA EURO 2024.
We’re gutted for you, Lyndon, but know you’ll be back in a Scotland shirt soon.
Wishing you a speedy recovery ???????? pic.twitter.com/TtQxdbPT6X
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) June 1, 2024
“All the boys are gutted for Lyndon, it’s just a freak thing to happen,” Bournemouth midfielder Ryan Christie told the BBC shortly before Dykes’ injury was publicly confirmed.
“We’ve had a few injuries already, so it’s frustrating.
“He’s been off for a while with the Championship [finishing on 4 May] and I know how hard he worked on his weeks off to prepare for this tournament.
“It’s just one of those things. There’s not much we can say to him at this point. We’re just trying to get behind him and I’m sure he’ll be supporting on.
“It adds another reason for us to be desperate to do well for him and the rest of the country.”
Scotland’s deepening injury crisis
Dykes’ absence means Steve Clarke will be left with Che Adams and Lawrence Shankland as his only out-and-out No.9 options at Euro 2024.
The former enjoyed a productive Championship campaign with Southampton, scoring 16 goals in 40 appearances. However, he has just five goals to his name in 29 caps for Scotland and hasn’t netted for the Tartan Army since June 2022.
The latter, meanwhile, has scored 48 goals for Hearts across the last two Scottish Premiership seasons combined, but has only managed two goals in nine senior caps at international level to date.
And it’s not just at centre-forward where Clarke is facing a dilemma, with Scotland heading to the Euros without full-backs Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson of Brentford and Everton, respectively.
Even more costly could be the absence of Lewis Ferguson, who won the Serie A Midfielder of the Year award for…
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