Steven Naismith says he has no regrets about joining Norwich City.

The Scot was an £8m January signing from Everton, but the switch went sour when City were relegated.

However, the 29-year-old – who scored on his debut against Liverpool but struggled for much of the latter stages of the campaign – wouldn't change a thing.

'I have no regrets,' said Naismith, who is currently with the Scotland squad preparing for a friendly international against Italy in Malta on Sunday.

'It was more a decision about how much game time I was going to get and at my age you want to be involved every week.

'As the games go by and you're not it's harder to feel part of it, especially when you're one of the older guys in the team.

'Moving to Norwich was more about me getting the chance to play every week. I might not be sitting here in the Scotland camp had I stayed at Everton and not played much.'

Naismith admits shrugging off Scotland's Euro 2016 heartache didn't get any easier inside the City dressing room.

Gordon Strachan's squad have been consigned to the role of tournament warm-up act – they have a friendly with Italy in Malta on Sunday, followed by a trip to Metz six days later to take on France.

Naismith's attempts to forget all about events taking place across the Channel have hardly been made any easier by the excited chatter among his Canaries team-mates.

Republic of Ireland pair Robbie Brady and Wes Hoolahan, Sweden's Martin Olsson and Northern Ireland frontman Kyle Lafferty – who spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Birmingham – all look set to be heading for the Euros.

But Naismith insists that only makes him more eager to ensure he is able to join in the conversation when it turns to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

'The guys at Norwich have been talking about going to the Euros – we're not and that's the end of it,' said the 29-year-old. 'They have all got the buzz and are looking forward to it, because a lot of my team-mates haven't been to a tournament before.

'They're experiencing what we hoped we would be.

'But that just fires you up for the next campaign. When you look at our squad, the boys are all of similar ages now. When you are younger you always think, 'Ah, there's always next time'.

'Now it has hit home that it is now us coming down to the last few campaigns we could be involved in.

'You do want to make a mark and get to one of the tournaments at least.

'Everything was in our favour last time, such as the amount of teams qualifying, so that's why it was such a blow.

'But as a squad there is real competition going forward. I've been really surprised by the young guys coming in and the quality they have shown.'

Both France and Italy will use their encounters with the Scotland to ready themselves for their march to Paris, but that is just another reminder to Naismith of what his side has missed out on.

'That is the worst part of it,' he said. 'It's good to meet up and test ourselves against two world-class countries, but we are the preparation and that is it.'