The Dunfermline boss said that he told Tony Docherty that he felt his young defender would "thrive" with them - and believes he's feeling the benefit of remaining at the club, rather than going out on loan.

Tod, 19, was picked in the pool for friendlies with Ukraine tomorrow (Thursday), and the USA on Sunday, in Spain, alongside team-mate and brother, Andrew.

The centre back played 25 times in an outstanding breakthrough campaign last season, despite being disrupted significantly by injury, including in May's Scottish Cup final against Celtic at Hampden.

John Tod is in the Scotland under-21 squad for the first time. (Image: Craig Brown,)

This term, John has played on 10 occasions, with the KDM Evolution Trophy win at Bonnyrigg Rose last midweek, a game in which he scored twice, being his first start since August.

Lennon had previously pondered about sanctioning a loan deal for him whilst the transfer window was open, but elected to keep him with his squad, feeling it would be better for his development.

That decision has been vindicated, with the rising star gaining more minutes for the Pars recently, and earning his international call-up.

"I had a long conversation with Tony about him and he's developing really well now, even though he's not obviously playing as much as he would like," Lennon said.

"Tony's seen him play. He saw him play a lot last year and he likes him.

"I was just saying, I think he’d thrive in that environment, and good on Tony for picking him.

"I think he's looking for the next group, which is the right thing to do, because it's the end of a cycle, so, Tony's looking for the next group to come through, and I think that's really important.

"You've got boys who are 22, 23, still playing under-21s football. I don't think that's the right thing to do.

Neil Lennon revealed he told Scotland under-21 head coach, Tony Docherty, that John Tod would "thrive" in his squad. (Image: Craig Brown,)

"It's the next group that will come through now. He's got to work with them and develop them over the next couple of years, which I think is really important."

Lennon continued: "I think this period is really important for him (John), in terms of his physical development.

"He looked good when he came on against Inverness, and he played very well against Bonnyrigg.

"So, his trajectory is going in the right way, and Andy's been superb the last few weeks. He's back to his best and looking a real threat.

"So, I’m delighted for those two, and then Fonzie (Alfons Amade) and Allan (Oyirwoth, who have been called up by Mozambique, and Uganda, respectively) have been a model of consistency all season."

Addressing the decision not to loan out John, Lennon noted: "He's better with us, for his physical development and his football.

"We weren't convinced he'd get a lot of benefit out of going out on loan at a lower level because he's better than that.

"I needed to get him more physically developed for the rigours of what lies ahead for the season.

"He missed a lot of football last year with an injury and, obviously, we want to avoid that as well with him.

"Sometimes you can't, but in terms of growing into his body, we felt it was important that he trained and did all the physical science stuff with us."

Neil Lennon decided against sending John Tod out on loan. (Image: Craig Brown,)

Lennon joked that John "has that penchant of getting up front and, all of a sudden, he looks like Duncan Ferguson" following his goals at Bonnyrigg.

He feels that having been involved with the under-19 squad last season will help him with the transition to the under-21 set up, adding: "He's obviously too old now for the 19s, so he's getting that step up.

"If we'd have loaned him out, John would have been playing every week, so I'm not concerned about his lack of minutes either, because he's young.

"I'm really pleased with what I'm seeing with him, compared to what we thought we would see.

"It looks like he's grown again. He looks so big now.

Call-ups for Andrew Tod and brother John have delighted manager, Neil Lennon. (Image: Craig Brown,)

"We just want to keep him on that right sort of training path and progression path.

"He's a super talent and I've got high hopes for John, going forward.

"He's a good boy and he's got a good mentality as well.

"I think it's great. It's good for the two of them."