Ross backs Levitt to reach very top
Tannadice boss vows to help youngster to improve
JACK ROSS believes that Dylan Levitt can reach the very top of the game after the youngster signed a two-year deal at Tannadice.
The Dundee United head coach has been left delighted after the club stumped up £300,000 to bring him to Tayside from Manchester United after the 21-year-old impressed on loan at United from Old Trafford last season.
He became the Tangerines’ second signing of the summer on Wednesday evening after they had confirmed the arrival of former Hibernian striker Steven Fletcher earlier in the day. Levitt had other interest south of the border but the Welsh international has returned north just as United prepare to travel to Spain for a pre-season training camp.
Ross said: “Dylan can do anything he wants in his career with the ability that he has and the quality he has.
“That [ambition of paying a fee] is important. There’s a recognition that to attract really good players to the club, you sometimes have to do that.
“That brings a number of benefits. It makes the team better, first of all, and enables you to be competitive, finish in the top half of the table and win trophies.
“Then you ask: ‘Can we keep improving him so he becomes really attractive to other clubs in the future?’ “Added to that, we are talking about a full international with ambitions to go to the World Cup. There are so many attractive things about Dylan Levitt as a player.
“It’s a really positive sign of intent that they have been willing to invest in him, in the belief he will be a major asset to the club.
“I’ve always seen my role as to make all players better and when I spoke to Dylan, it was about exactly that.
“Can I keep improving him to such an extent that he achieves what he wants to in his football career? And when you are working with players who have such good raw materials to begin with, of course it makes it easier. I’ve seen his ability in a day and a half of working with him!”
Fletcher, meanwhile, hasn’t played for a Scottish club since he departed Easter Road in 2009. The 35-year-old was last at Stoke City but has decided to return his homeland following the expiration of his contract at the bet365 stadium.
Ross believes his arrival will be a boost to the United camp.
He said: “Standards can be driven by me and by staff but guys like Steven Fletcher and Charlie Mulgrew make demands on people – because they have put those demands on themselves. They also have a controlled arrogance so that when we go to play in big stadiums against big clubs, it won’t faze them. You want that to filter through your whole group and for people to embrace that challenge.
“And, from speaking to him, I do believe he is coming back here with a hunger. It’s been a long time since he last played in Scotland and I think he wants to come up here and remind people just what a good player he is.
“I played against him quite a bit when he was at Hibs, for Falkirk and St Mirren.
“He played against me for Sheffield Wednesday when I was manager of Sunderland and, funnily enough, I actually had a really good chat with him last pre-season.
“Hibs played Stoke in a friendly and I did have a wee nibble at him after the game to see if he fancied coming back up the road to Scotland at that point!”