Fraser Aird, the Scarborough teen who signed with the Glasgow Rangers Academy in February and who would have been the only talent Canada had at the U-17 level with a pro-contract, has been called to represent Scotland.
Aird, whose both parents have Scottish lineage, was recently overlooked being called into the Canadian U-17 camp and now is expected to accept the invitation to represent Scotland at the youth levels. Thanks to FIFA's recent rule change about capping at the youth levels, this is a move that won't preclude him from representing Canada later in life but it certainly doesn't bode well given his family lineage and where he now plies his trade.
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He is scheduled to report to camp at the end of the month when Scotland will play a series of three games in Austria.
While talent at Aird's age is not guaranteed to reap future rewards, it's not exactly like Canada has a wealth of disposable talent in the pipeline to play with.
Given the rumours earlier this year about Oscar Cordon, another heralded young Canadian talent said to be considering his options after not being selected to his national team, perhaps it's time that the Senior Men's coaching staff started taking a larger role in managing the youth level selections. Otherwise the politics of selection at the youth levels will continue to effect the long term development on the senior side.