Scotland manager Gordon Strachan has confirmed that Motherwell's Tom Hateley was agonisingly close to becoming available to represent the nation.
The 23-year old was born in Monaco in 1989 but moved with his parents to Scotland when father Mark was signed by Rangers in 1990.
Strachan said that Scotland were interested in capping him for the recent World Cup qualifier against Croatia but discovered that he was months short of the five-year schooling rule required to allow him to play for another country.
"We did checks but he missed out by a few months," said Strachan.
