Could Scotland manager Gordon Strachan be about to try and tempt England defender Steven Caulker to play for Scotland?

Caulker qualifies to play north of the border through a Scottish grandmother and his latest England snub could force him to reconsider his international options

Steven Caulker shakes hands with England manager Roy Hodgson after making a goalscoring debut against Sweden (GETTY IMAGES)

Gordon Strachan is currently exploring the possibility of luring Cardiff defender Steven Caulker to play for Scotland, even though he has already scored his first international goal for England.

Caulker earned his first cap for the Three Lions in November 2012, when he scored against Sweden in the 4-2 friendly defeat when Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the goal that is favourite for the Puskas award for the goal of the year.

Despite a number of fringe players set to be given a chance by England manager Roy Hodgson in the upcoming friendlies against Chile and Germany, Caulker was once again left out of the squad, and Strachan hopes that he can use this to the Scots advantage when he attempts to persuade the centre-back to switch allegiance.

Caulker qualifies for the Scots through on of his grandmothers, and he will ring the 21-year-old personally to see if there’s a chance of him donning the Blues of Scotland anytime soon.

The former Tottenham defender, who made the rather surprising switch to Wales in the summer for £8m, has represented England at both Under-19s and Under-21s level, but under Fifa rules he can still change allegiances as he has only featured in an international friendly.

Caulker has had a good start to life with the Bluebirds, scoring the winning goal in the south Wales derby last month against Swansea, but Hodgson’s reluctance to call him up to the senior squad seems to suggest that he does not feature in his 2014 World Cup plans.

Caulker admitted that he was tempted to pledge his future to the Scottish two years ago when Craig Levein was in charge of the Tartan Army, but has maintained since then that it is his “dream” to represent England at senior level. He featured in Team GB’s Olympic team at the 2012 London Games.

The situation is similar to Brazilian Diego Costa, who announced he is ready to turn his back on his native Brazil in order to play for Spain – the country he has lived in since 2007 – despite having played twice for Brazil in international friendlies.

Having been called up to the Spain squad by manager Vicente Del Bosque, Costa will have to wait a little longer before he plays for his new country having been ruled out with a thigh injury.