Scotland manager Steve Clarke named his provisional 28-man Euro 24 squad earlier this week.

Two players will ultimately be cut from that list when Scotland travel to Germany next month, but the manager is confident he can strike a suitable balance across all positions on the pitch, with enough experience among the team to support younger and less familiar players.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the 60-year-old was asked about Heart of Midlothian goalkeeper Craig Gordon who, at 41 years old, is the provisional squad's oldest head.

READ MORE: Craig Gordon: Hearts legend on his journey to master the art of goalkeeping

"Yeah, and he could be Ben Doak's dad," quipped Clarke – Doak, at 18 years old, being the squad's youngest. "That's the age gap that we've got in the squad.

"I think for Craig, and the goalkeepers [generally], if you go for three and then pick up a goalkeeping injury, you have a goalkeeper who hasn't trained and hasn't worked, so they'll all work together.

"Craig's experience in and around the squad will be good, even if that's with a word in someone's ear, he's been there, he knows the ropes, he's got over 70 caps for his country, and it's nice that he's fit and involved."

When pressed about the inclusion of four goalkeepers named in the provisional squad – Gordon, as well as Zander Clark, Angus Gunn and Liam Kelly – Clarke said that while undecided how many will actually travel to Germany, there is logic in taking four.

He added: "In a 26-man squad, as long as I feel like I've got enough cover then it's possible to take four goalkeepers.

"The logic behind it would say the number three goalkeeper can get bombarded in training by doing too much, so you can share the workload.

"[Julian] Nagelsmann, the German coach, actually touched upon that. It can be a hard life being the third choice goalkeeper when everybody wants to have a shooting session after training and you're doing that for near on a month, it's a lot of work for one guy to cover.

"So there is a case to take four. But there's also a case to take three because maybe you have to cover more outfield positions, and that'll be one of the tough decisions."