Shaun Maloney admits he fears for his future with Scotland because of a lack of regular first-team action at Aston Villa.The forward confessed to home-sickness when he first quit Celtic for the Premier League club but has since settled into life in the Midlands.

But he has concerns about his inability so far to nail down a place in Martin O'Neill's plans and that could lead to some soul searching over the summer.

Maloney jetted out to Prague with the rest of the Scotland squad this morning and has a decent chance of being involved in tomorrow's friendly against the Czech Republic if for no other reason than the number of withdrawals George Burley has suffered.

He knows this is the ideal chance to impress the new Scotland boss ahead of the World Cup qualifiers, which begin away to Macedonia in September.

Maloney conceded: "It's about time [I staked a claim] but if I'm not playing regular football for my club I can't expect to come in and play regularly for my country so I think that has to change.

"I have to play regularly at the club and, if that doesn't happen, I can't really expect to stake a claim for Scotland."

Maloney has been linked with a return to Celtic and, regarding the next couple of months, he added: "I've got something to think about, yes.

"I've started to enjoy the club down south but I've just not played and I don't think that's ideal. We will see what happens in the next few months.

"One day I'd like to move back and play in Scotland but I've got a few years left at Villa so we will see."

Asked whether his time in England's top flight had made him a better player, he replied: "I'm not sure. I've not played a lot of football in the last year and a half so maybe not, no."

James McFadden, Alan Hutton and Steven Fletcher have all withdrawn from the squad through injury, along with Rangers trio Kris Boyd, Steven Whittaker and Kevin Thomson, meaning only 18 players travelled.

But Maloney insisted: "There are enough players. We just train and get on with it and the manager picks the side. It doesn't really make a difference who's here and who isn't."

Burley recorded a credible 1-1 draw with Croatia in his first game in charge in March and, while too early to assess his credentials as Scotland boss, Maloney has no complaints so far with Alex McLeish's successor.

He said: "He enjoys being out on the playing field and the way he plays is quite attacking so I've been quite impressed."

Friday's match will act as the final warm-up for the Czech Republic ahead of Euro 2008 and the home nation will be strong favourites, but Maloney insists the Scots will not simply be making up the numbers.

"You don't want to go over there and get beat and put in a bad performance," he said.

"We have a new manager and the qualifiers start soon so hopefully we can get a good result."

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