Scotland boss Sebastien Pocognoli has welcomed Scott McTominay back into the fold after heart surgery and revealed he’s banking on him to help kickstart a new era for the national team.

McTominay went through a minor operation to address mild benign arrhythmia in September and missed Pocognoli’s first Nations League camp as head coach.

However, having scored four times after returning to action at Italian outfit Napoli, the 29-year-old midfielder is back in the squad for this month’s double-header against North Macedonia and Switzerland.

Torino striker Che Adams, absent last time out due to a muscle strain, is also back in the fold while there is a first call-up for left-back James Penrice, currently on loan at Rangers from Greek side AEK Athens.

Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney returns after withdrawing from Pocognoli’s first squad while centre-back Scott McKenna misses out after reportedly picking up a back strain playing for Dinamo Zagreb. Josh Doig, Colby Donovan, James Wilson and Lennon Miller also drop out from Pocognoli’s debut matches.

Speaking while naming his squad at Hampden Park, Pocognoli emphasised the role McTominay will play – along with other senior stars – in helping bring through a new generation of stars under his guidance.

‘I have been in contact with Scott from the first day. He missed the first camp with some physical problem,’ stated the Belgian.

‘We were still in contact during the rehabilitation, when he came back on the pitch. He’s one of the captains, so there’s a special contact with them, but he’s looking forward to come, to play for us, to play in a different way, on the pitch and he is very positive, so that’s important.

‘There is plenty of experience back in the squad. With Scott, with Che, with Kieran. He’s also back, so, if you accumulate the caps, we have some experience that will be useful for this camp and to also embrace the young lads - because we still have a young squad with many players who don’t have a lot of caps.

‘I’m sure the mix will be good and these (experienced) players will also show the way for them.’

Scotland are third in Group B1 with four points from four games, three points behind Slovenia and eight behind runaway leaders Switzerland. The Scots host North Macedonia at Hampden on November 13 with a trip to Switzerland three days later.

With one eye on the forthcoming 2028 European Championship qualifying campaign, Pocognoli said: ‘I’m looking forward to working with everybody, but, for sure, we want to see most of the players just to have as much information as possible to start the qualification for the Euros.

‘All I want to do now is to get the most out of this, to know my squad as deeply as possible, to see the body language, the attitude of the players in some situations, and to have most of the information to start the big job.’

On the issue of a first call-up for 27-year-old former Hearts defender Penrice, Pocognoli said: ‘Like I said in the first camp, we have a list of players that we select regarding the performance at their clubs, but also the style of play or the way that we want to play.

‘We have some missing players around the left side, so, combined with his quality and what we are looking for on the pitch, it’s a logical choice for me. It can be very useful for the system that we want to play and also I think he deserves it.’