Driver undecided on Scots future

Hearts winger Andrew Driver insists that he wants to rediscover his club form before making a decision over his future at international level.

Oldham-born Driver, 21, has played for England Under-21s but, following a rule change over where a player is schooled, is now eligible to play for Scotland.

"I'm not delaying the decision because I'm not sure about it," he said.

"It's just the fact that I want to get feeling good about myself playing football and then I'll settle down."

On Thursday, Scotland manager George Burley will announce his squad for the friendly against Wales on Saturday 14 November but it will not include Driver.

The winger moved to North Berwick at the age of 10 and satisfies the requisite five years of schooling in Scotland that permits him to swap the three lions of the England jersey for the lion rampant of Scotland.

A series of fine performances last season saw the left-sided player chosen by England Under-21s coach Stuart Pearce for the European Championship campaign in Sweden in the summer.

"It's something that you can't rush into. It's a massive decision to make"

Yet he represented Scotland at schoolboy level and when asked on Tuesday if he felt Scottish, Driver replied: "I've been here since I was 10-years-old. All my friends are Scottish, my girlfriend's Scottish, I was educated here, I've worked all my life here.

"I've been here more than half my life so it's a major part of my life."

Driver hopes to decide his international future soon, but before that he says he is determined to focus his attention on rediscovering his club form.

He said: "You don't want to drag it on. If you drag it on, it makes it look as if I'm stalling, which shows disrespect to both nations.

"I feel it would have been a lot easier if I hadn't my form to concentrate on.

"In the next few weeks I'll be concentrating on that and then hopefully the decision will be made.

"It's something that you can't rush into. It's a massive decision to make."

Whether it is modesty or a sense of realism that his current play would not merit a Scotland call-up, Driver suggests that now is not the right time to swear allegiance to one country or the other.

"At the moment, I'm not going to get into the squad anyway, so there's no point in coming out and making the decision," he said.

"I feel if I come out and say I want to get in the squad, it makes me look arrogant, so I don't want to rush into it and come across the wrong way.

"I want to think long and hard about it and if I do make the decision to play for Scotland, I will do it 100%; I won't go into it halfway.

"Obviously, it was a great honour for me to play for England and it's something in the future I'd want to do.

"But if I turn my back on them, then that is it."

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