Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dee Wighton his potential
By his own admission, Craig Wighton knows he needs to start realising his potential at Dundee — however, in Toulon, he’s showing he can mix it at international level.
The Dens Park kid is playing his part as Scot Gemmill’s Scotland U/20 side more than holds its own in the famous youth tournament.
It’s the first time Scotland have featured since 1997 — in that team were Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch and Gary Naysmith — and they’ve made some headlines, not least by beating Brazil on Saturday.
Wighton himself played the whole game after obviously i mpressing Gemmill in a cameo appearance as a sub in the 3-2 defeat to the Czech Republic.
Featuring on the left side, with Leipzig and full Scotland international Olly Burke roaming along the frontline, Wighton helped the Scots to a first-ever win at any level over Brazil with the only goal of the game a stunner from Kilmarnock left-back Greg Taylor.
And last night, he again played his part as Scotland beat Indonesia 2-1 to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash against England (see p37).
Minutes in a high-profile tournament like that, even at youth level, can only do wonders for Wighton’s confidence.
A player who was pushed for a first-team place at the tender age of just 15 when John Brown was in charge at Dens Park — that attempt was kiboshed by the league rules which stated he had to be 16 to play — and scored his first goal for the club more than three-anda-half years ago, he seems to have been around for ages.
However, people forget he’s just 19 years of age and is still learning as he goes along in a time of his life where other players might not even have featured at first-team level.
Wighton’s expectations of himself are higher, though, and he knows next season is a big one in his development as a player.
Speaking to the Tele before heading to France, the young Dundonian said: “I’ve not scored enough this year, I’ve been disappointed in myself.
“I think I have definitely improved overall but I need to be more consistent, it’s not good enough to do it in flashes, it’s got to be consistent at this level.