Bates’ performance in Old Firm match persuaded Hamburg to swoop

Hamburg chief scout Johannes Spors has revealed how he managed to snatch David Bates from Rangers.

The 21-year-old defender moved to Germany during the summer after rejecting a new deal at Ibrox.

And the relegated Bundesliga club’s main talent spotter has revealed why they made an unusual swoop into the Scottish market.

Spors said: “I noticed David Bates in my research because he got praise as a very young player in an important match for Rangers against Celtic and his data was impressive.

“He was a player who was obviously under the radar, so we watched the game again and he was really good.

“Then I flew to Glasgow, watched him live and then met him in person. Added to this was a very favourable contract situation.

“Sometimes you can discover players by random and that’s what happened here. There is no one way to find a player.

“With Bates (pictured right), we were so confident about the player’s ability, we would have signed him for either the Bundesliga or Bundesliga II – whatever league we were in.

“He has huge potential for development and he has the right mentality to make an immediate impact. We want players like him.”