Jamie Murphy is hopeful involvement in the Premier League will help his Scotland hopes.
Murphy’s been called into Gordon Strachan’s squad is the past, most recently when he was named in the provisional squad to face England last month, but the winger is yet to make his international debut.
Having always had aspirations of playing for the national side Murphy told the Official Website he feels topflight football with Brighton can help him take that next step.
‘To get promoted into the Premier League is a massive thing, especially for me coming from Scotland and working my way up. This is the pinnacle and you want to play here as long as you can.’
Adding: ‘It`s always been an aim of mine to play for Scotland. I`ve been called up a couple of times and not managed to make an appearance yet, so that`s the next step on the ladder for me to get that appearance.’
It certainly wouldn’t go against Murphy’s case if he can be involved in the Premier League but, with all due respect to the Scots, the Brighton winger in fact, he shouldn’t need football at the highest level to be involved with Scotland.
Meanwhile, looking at pre-season Murphy went to talk about building up fitness and how things have changed since he started out in the game.
He said: ‘You have to keep on top of your fitness levels throughout the summer. When I started a good ten years ago, it wasn`t quite like that, but with the way football is going, with all the sports science, you need to keep your shape in all year round.’
Then you get your rhythm and build from there in the pre-season games.
‘You can do all the running in the world, but it`s not the same as running in a game. It`s more about getting fitness and getting a rhythm for what you`re going to do. It`s important to get some touches on the ball especially in that first pre-season game, so it`s about trying to build up from there.’
