Bourne winner Fraser has finally come of age and can aid Scotland
SCOTTISH football sages let out a collective sigh of disapproval when, midway through his discovery season at Aberdeen, teenager Ryan Fraser bolted for Bournemouth to continue his schooling in the game on the south coast and in England’s third tier.
Billy Stark well remembers. For he was Fraser’s Scotland Under-21 coach at the time and admits he did fear the then 18-year-old would follow the likes of Jack Grimmer and Scott Allan in making the error of fleeing the nest too soon.
Pittodrie guaranteed first-team football for the Scottish top flight’s breakthrough player of 2012/13, a point hammered home by then Aberdeen boss Craig Brown. He was among many imploring the restless to remain and rack up at least 100 appearances for their clubs before having heads turned.
While they were tut-tutting in dismay, Stark warmed to the idea, thanks to his regular contact with Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe, as he selected Fraser for national team squads. Four years on, Fraser’s patient approach, and shrewd selection of the progressive club with its excellent young manager, should be rewarded with a senior Scotland call-up.
Stark believes the stocky winger has come of age in this season’s English Premier League and is ready to emerge in 2017 as a contributor to a World Cup qualifying comeback effort by Gordon Strachan’s team.
‘I remember speaking to Gordon a number of years ago about him when he was looking at younger ones,’ said Stark. ‘He took Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Jack and Tony Watt to Croatia in the summer of 2013 but Ryan Fraser was injured at the time. So Gordon was aware of him and he will be again in the year to come. Playing English Premier League quite regularly now means he won’t be far away.’
Fraser had only played five League One games for Bournemouth when Stark suggested to Strachan that he was worth a second glance. The following season, Fraser featured 41 times for the promoted side in the Championship. So much for the concern about disappearing out of sight in this supposed backwater.
Occasional injuries contributed to a reduction in output, with 27 appearances as Bournemouth soared into the top flight in 2014/15 and then 21 on loan at Ipswich last term. However, the loan spell is credited with accelerating his progress in the eyes of both manager and player.
Nine appearances in the first half of this campaign in the Premier League, including one against Liverpool last month, vindicate the journey embarked upon when Bournemouth paid £400,000 for this raw talent in January 2013 — and Fraser was on the scoresheet as he started yesterday’s 3-0 win at Swansea City.
Howe described Fraser’s decision to jump at that chance as ‘brave’. Certainly, more courage has been required to overcome recurrent issues not dissimilar to those that have held back James Forrest who, at 25, is now starring for Celtic under Brendan Rodgers.
‘Forrest is only now getting a real run of games for Celtic and Scotland,’ said Stark. ‘Young players of that type are so finely tuned they pick up muscle injuries. It’s hamstrings and groins. Ryan picked up injuries again at Ipswich last season. He did well for them but was out for a few months.
‘That’s the one fear until you learn to manage that and keep playing.
‘A number of times he wasn’t available for the Under-21s when I was there. Ryan comes into the category of a really penetrative player, who has a bit of pace and can get in behind and link. He can be dynamic, take players on. Pace is a big part of his game.
‘We don’t have a great quantity of them. So I think it’s interesting now what young options are there.
‘Oliver Burke is 6ft 2in, Ryan is 5ft 4in. There’s a height difference and they have very different capabilities — and that can be a good thing to throw at teams. You saw that explosive action in the game that Ryan turned against Liverpool when he picked up the ball in the middle of the park and got the penalty.’
Fraser earned the man-of-thematch award in that 4-3 comeback thriller as he netted his first top-flight goal and provided two assists during a mere 35 minutes on the pitch. This was evidence of his match-changing capabilities while the link-up play with strikers Callum Wilson and Benik Afobe showcased the ripening of his game.
‘People get carried away here because we have a dearth of his type,’ said Stark, who also tips Fulham’s Tom Cairney for a call-up this year.
‘What you have to remember is there are so many things a young winger has to put in place within his game while, all the time, there is pressure on them middle-to-front to perform and produce.
‘They have to learn how to manage the game. When to pass, when to dribble. Decision-making is massive and much of it comes with maturing. They don’t know how to calm down and play a nice final pass with pace.
‘With Ryan, you’re seeing bits of that now. It’s the effect of game analysis. You can be sure Eddie Howe has been working on that.
‘I don’t think Ryan has got any quicker but, I’m sure, getting to Premier League standard, he would be finely honed. It’s great credit to him how he’s worked to this level.
‘I was disappointed when he moved from Aberdeen. There was evidence those moves mainly didn’t work out.
‘It was a big decision as he hadn’t properly established himself in the first team at Pittodrie. People were taken by surprise and wondered about Bournemouth, who were in League One then. I am sure Ryan would say that it has worked out.’
You saw that explosive action when he faced Liverpool