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But maybe enough time has passed for that to be water under the bridge? With the form the 26-year-old is showing, there is certainly a conversation about whether he deserves a retirement.

He has scored more than double the amount of talisman Lyndon Dykes in the same league and the same goes for the Jacob Brown squad who have five for Stoke City.

While he is operating at a higher level than Hearts’ Lawrence Shankland and Hibs’ Kevin Nisbet, who would be many fans’ choices to make the team.

Sure, McBurnie previously failed to impress in a Scotland shirt. But many of his appearances came at a time when he was struggling in the top flight with the Blades and confidence could have taken a hit. Would he have a new lease on life if he had another chance?

With the help of InStat, we can take a deeper look at the statistics of the Scotland striker candidates.

McBurnie’s 15 xG means he’s slightly underperforming, but it means he’s more threatening than Dykes and Brown, who sit at 14 and 11. That means they’re both significantly underperforming when it comes to scoring.

McBurnie has contributed 22 key passes for the Blades this season, while Dykes has 14 for QPR and Brown 12 for Stoke.

As for being a pressing forward, it is the latter who stands out with 32 ball recoveries in the opposite field. McBurnie is 17 and Dykes is 18.

QPR’s target man is an airborne colossus when on international duty, but McBurnie actually has a better aerial challenge record this season at 43 per cent compared to 40. Brown has 37 per cent.

If we look at the dribbling, the forgotten team is once again victorious with a 52 percent hit rate. While Brown is 48 percent, he tried much more with 97 dwarfing 52. Dykes has succeeded at 43 percent on just 30 attempts.

McBurnie has attempted more shots than the other pair and still managed to hit more on target with a 64 percent rate of 69 shots. Dykes is 45 percent of 64 and Brown is 53 percent of 59.

Convert more leads at a rate of 30 percent compared to 20 percent (Dykes) and 22 percent (Brown).

And he’s much more of a creative force, too, with 22 chances for his teammates this season, which is considerably better than his rivals’ scores of 15 and 14 respectively.

Is it time for Clarke and the Tartan Army to forgive and forget?

McBurnie is also out of contract at the end of the season and that could lead to further ties to Rangers, for whom he has been open about his love.