Rangers star falls below strict criteria for international call-up as boss explains Nations League axe

Rangers striker Bojan Miovski won’t be adding to his 45 North Macedonia caps this month after he was left out of their Nations League squad.

International boss Goce Sedloski confirmed his decision was in direct correlation to Miovski’s lack of game time at Ibrox. The 27-year old has only accrued 72 minutes for the Ibrox side this season. During that time, he bagged an important late winner against St Mirren at home in the Premiership on September 9 - but Sedloski doesn’t believe this is enough to warrant his place in the national side.

Miovski featured in all four of North Macedonia’s fixtures during the extended break six weeks ago, including a 2-0 defeat at home to Scotland. He well now however miss the chance to potentially face Rangers teammates Liam Kelly, James Penrice and Findlay Curtis in the reverse fixture at Hampden on November 12, as well as their final clash of League B Group 1 at home to Slovenia three days later.

North Macedonia boss explains Miovski omission

Speaking after the announcement, Sedloski bluntly explained that Miovski’s omission was down to lack of minutes. He said: "Miovski has not had playing time at Glasgow Rangers for a long time, that's why I decided on the four strikers I selected.”

However, he also added that if the former Aberdeen marksman was to make his way back into selection contention at Rangers, then there would be a high chance he regains his place in the national team. He continued: “He has not been deleted from the squad - when he has more playing time and when he plays, he will get a call-up.

"There is no anger about the decision. I have always decided to select those who are playing and I will continue that way. Those who do not play in the teams will not be called up. Let's fix the mistakes we made here against Scotland. We are playing against a strong team like Scotland and we need to forget about our recent form and give everything."

Why have Miovski’s minutes at Rangers decreased?

The North Macedonian bagged 13 goals last season when despite not being a nailed-on started, he still managed to accrue 41 appearances. However, this season there have been too many big names ahead of him under manager Derek McInnes.

Miovski has fallen victim to the success of Ibrox strike partnership Ryan Naderi and Kevin Kelsy in recent weeks - and may find it even harder to earn minutes when captain Lawrence Shankland returns from injury in the next month or so. Fellow striker Youssef Chermiti is out for a ‘significant’ period of time with an ACL injury and isn’t likely to return until the end of the season.

Despite this, McInnes still thinks Miovski can play a key role in the team, after his winner against St Mirren, the gaffer said: “When we first came in, the club invested a lot of money in Youssef and Ryan. Lawrence arrives and he’s probably thinking ‘where am I going to fit in here?’ But his goals per minute, both for Aberdeen and Rangers, is top class and I’m just delighted to think that somebody of his calibre and prowess is in the building.”