'Dream come true' - Sunderland star striker Ross Stewart on his hopes for a Scotland call-up as scouts watch League One games

Stewart says it has been ‘flattering’ to have even been talked about in Scotland terms but he hopes one day to get the call.

Indeed, Scotland scouts have been keeping close tabs on his progress at Sunderland this season under head coach Lee Johnson.

Sunderland have a free weekend in League One after their game with Lincoln City was postponed due to international call-ups.

The Black Cats will hope to get their promotion hopes back on track when Ipswich Town visit the Stadium of Light a week on Saturday.

Under-pressure Johnson will again be reliant on Stewart to lead the Sunderland attack.

“It has been flattering to even be talked about in Scotland terms,” Stewart told the Daily Record.

“It would be a dream come true if it ever was to happen, especially with the path I have taken coming up from the juniors.

“There has been a lot of talk about a Scotland call-up down here.

“The manager (Lee Johnson) has told me that there was a Scotland scout at our game a couple of weeks ago.

“That was nice to hear. “It shows I must be doing something right and I am at least on the radar.

“As I said, it would be a dream come true if I was to get the Scotland call-up but I can’t get too hung up on it.

“I just need to keep doing well for Sunderland and I know if I can do that then I might give myself my best chance of a Scotland call-up some time in the future.”

Stewart has previously won praise from Sunderland head coach Lee Johnson.

Speaking at the end of September, Johnson said: “For me, he's a top-10 Championship player at least, with the potential to go on and play in the Premier League as well.

“I thought the game against Bolton Wanderers, when he faced a really good opponent in Ricardo Santos, was a really interesting one. We felt he needed to be a bit smarter, a bit more economical with his workrate. He came up against a good, quick and strong player and he needed to have a bit more tactical agility.

“We had a really good chat about that game and this is the thing about Rossco: he's such a great lad and is just like a sponge.

“You know that anything you say to him, he's going to take it in. Some of it he'll get rid of, because he's really strong in his own mind, and the bits he feels will improve him he will work really, really hard on.

“He's a very good player to have in your ranks.

“You have to do your due diligence when it comes to a player's character and Ross is an example of that.

“The feel of the group is so important and if you get a bad egg, that can rip through the squad very easily.”

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