The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Bates’ decision to quit Gers for Hamburg has paid off, insists Gemmill
Scotland Under-21 boss Scot Gemmill has praised former Raith Rovers and Brechin defender David Bates for having the guts to move to Germany.
The big defender took a chance when he knocked back an offer to stay at Rangers in favour of joining fallen Bundesliga giants Hamburg.
But the switch has paid off so far, with Bates starting all three of the Die Rothosen’s second-tier league matches to date.
He has now been rewarded with his first Scotland Under-21 call-up ahead of tomorrow’s Euro qualifier with Andorra and the showdown with Holland next Tuesday.
And Gemmill has been impressed with the way the former Rovers youngster has adapted to life on the Continent.
He said: “It’s been really interesting. David was a player we tried to involve while he was still a Rangers player but towards the end of his time at Ibrox he was unavailable through injury.
“But it’s great to be able to give our best young players like David the chance now to play international football.
“Our job is to help guys like him get to the full squad and we can only do that by giving them an opportunity to play.
“He’s gone to Germany and has moved out of his comfort zone and that is the sort of thing we talk about a lot.
“It’s not just on the pitch that has to be correct, how you grow off the pitch is vital too and taking on such a big responsibility will make David much more mature both on and off the pitch.
“If you also factor in the size of the club that he has joined, the expectancy of playing in front of 50,000 people every home game will add to that.
“He’s obviously experienced that at Rangers too but there is no doubt, in terms of his development, there is no place to hide at Hamburg.
“So he is really dealing with a lot of issues but he deserves a lot of credit for how quickly he has adapted to that.”
Bates – who left Rovers for Rangers in 2016 after just 10 games for the Kirkcaldy side – did have to deal with a sticky start on his Hamburg debut, however.
He was booked after less than an hour as his side fell to a shock 3-0 home defeat against Holstein Kiel on their campaign curtain-raiser.
But head coach Christian Titz has kept faith with the young Scot and Gemmill believes the centre-back will continue to improve the more he gets to grips with life in Germany.
“You can already see his game intelligence has developed,” he said.
“Hamburg do take a lot of risks. If you watch them, their goalkeeper does come up really high and almost joins the two centre-backs as a sweeperkeeper.
“They actually got caught in possession doing that recently but that is the way their coach wants them to play.
“David, the same as all young players in that situation, has to show that understanding, that knowledge and that willingness to play that way and that’s what I give him most credit for.
“The fact he is able to do what he is good at – and that’s defending – at the same time as adjusting to his new coaches’ style of play.”