Courts praises Graham for his rapid progress

TAM Courts has challenged in-form Dundee United defender Ross Graham to become a Tannadice centurion.

The 21-year-old was shortlisted alongside Nathan Patterson, Stephen Welsh, Josh Doig and Calvin Ramsay for the Scottish Football Writers’ Association (SFWA) Young Player of the Year award.

Graham’s nomination underlines the staggering progress he has made since returning from an unsuccessful loan spell at Dunfermline in January.

Since then, the boyhood Arab has made 14 appearances, scored two goals and found the net on his Scotland under-21 debut against Kazakhstan in March.

“The nomination is a fantastic achievement for Ross,” said Courts.

“He came back here (from Dunfermline) and was probably a little bit unsure about where his future lay, in the short term.

“So, to then watch his trajectory, performances and those big moments has been terrific. There have been so many positives over the last few months for Ross.

“He is now in a position where he is part of a playing squad that can get us into Europe.”

Graham’s emergence comes mere months after Kerr Smith, another precocious centre-back, joined Aston Villa for a fee which could rise to £2 million.

Indeed, United have made no secret of their desire to create a conveyor belt of young talent.

While not ignorant of the realities of modern football, Courts is in no rush to see Graham go anywhere, insisting the sky is the limit for his development at Tannadice.

“We were always clear on where Ross’s trajectory was heading,” continued Courts.

“He was probably disappointed to be going out on loan, particularly when he was seeing younger centre-backs getting opportunities.

“But we were always of the mind that he was a centre-half we saw playing 100 to 150 games for United.

“That will hopefully ring true. “We understand that the market will naturally be looking at any player who is 6ft 3ins, balanced with his left foot and has a strong