Charlie Mulgrew’s hopes of a late Scotland call-up are hanging in the balance after he was forced off injured in Dundee United’s defeat to Hearts.
Mulgrew was withdrawn at half-time with a muscular complaint of his side’s 5-2 defeat to Hearts.
Teenager Kerr Smith took his place in the heart of the Tannadice defence.
Mulgrew still hopes to add to this 44 caps after a fine start to the season.
But he could miss out this time with former United star John Souttar in pole position to replace injured Grant Hanley.
It’s not yet clear how long Mulgrew will be out for but United hope he will be fit to star for them against Aberdeen on November 20th.
“It’s a muscular injury and something he felt at the start of the week,” said United boss Tam Courts when questioned on Mulgrew. “We have tried to nurse it from there.
“Obviously we go into the international break so we hoped we could get him through the 90 minutes.
“But it was one of those games for us when anything that could go wrong did. We couldn’t get that continuity going to get back into it.
“The feedback we have just had from the medical staff is that it is a muscular spasm. It will take 48 hours to assess that.
“I am not too sure the significance of the injury. It is too hard to say just now.”
Charlie Mulgrew could miss out on Scotland duty to John Souttar
Meanwhile, Hearts boss Robbie Neilson believes Souttar is ready to step into the breach to replace Hanley.
Ex-Tannadice gaffer Neilson revealed there has been ‘no contact’ with Scotland boss Steve Clarke ahead of next week’s double header with Moldova and Denmark.
But he added: “I think John is ready. He’d have been ready for a few years if it hadn’t been for injury.
“You can see what he’s brought to us over the last few months.”
