From day one the hype was difficult. Nobody knew my name but they’d be calling me ‘Mini Messi’
IN retrospect, perhaps all of that seemingly harmless hype surrounding Ryan Gauld wasn’t entirely helpful.
Maybe our collective rush to hail him as the Next Big Thing — each punter and pundit more eager than the last to claim they had been first to spot his true potential — actually proved counter-productive.
The former wunderkind himself is in little doubt. As flattered as he was by comparisons to a player universally acknowledged as the greatest of all time, there was something about the heightened expectation that just didn’t sit right with a kid still in his teens.
Gauld, now 23, shook his head yesterday as he recalled the heady hysteria of his move from Dundee United to Sporting Lisbon in 2014, complete with a new contract which contained a staggering £48million release clause.
‘It’s not ideal,’ conceded the playmaker. ‘And you do try to put it to the back of your mind. But it’s still there. It was made difficult from day one over there.
‘When I would go out for a coffee, sitting in a shopping centre, nobody would even know my name but they’d be saying: “Mini Messi, Mini Messi…”
‘Nobody even knew my name was Ryan Gauld. And that kind of stuff isn’t nice. I didn’t enjoy it and it’s not something I welcomed.
‘It was all a bit of a shock at the beginning. My first year especially was very good and then, with a change of manager, everything became a bit more difficult. There were less chances for me.
‘I have enjoyed different loan spells — last year we managed to win the Portuguese Cup and I have enjoyed some game time in the first league.
‘I have had four years there with some ups and downs, but I have enjoyed it.
‘I had a sharp rise in my career because of a good spell at United, then signing for Sporting. And that brought huge expectations.
‘But I knew it wasn’t going to be quite the way everyone expected.
‘I kept my feet on the ground and worked as hard as possible, to hopefully provide myself with the best career possible.’
The fact that Gauld has pitched up on loan at Easter Road is a fair indication of how his career has panned out.
If he can’t claim to have climbed as high as former United team-mates like Andy Robertson or Stuart Armstrong, his arrival at Hibernian has set pulses racing among their fans.
Loan spells at smaller Portuguese sides have kept Gauld ticking over, meaning he’s ready to play at home against Elgin City in today’s Scottish Cup tie.
As of being eager to impress, well, simply performing in an environment where he feels valued takes care of motivation levels.
Gauld, who has been in a couple of Scotland senior squads without winning that first cap, said: ‘Knowing Hibs were interested in me for a couple of months, that made me feel wanted.
‘It made me feel like they wanted me in the building, which is what everyone wants — and it played a part.
‘Their scouting department did a lot of work, made reports, came out to see me play in a couple of games.
‘The fact that they were putting in that much effort, it makes you feel like they’re really keen, really interested. That was important to me.
‘I suppose I felt like my profile had gone down a little bit in the last couple of years. That’s something that the Scottish Premiership can give you.
‘If you look at the last couple of Scotland squads, there have been a lot of guys from the SPFL in the squad.
‘I’m not giving too much thought to it just now. My main thoughts are on getting my head down, working hard and playing football.
‘But, if the opportunity did come back along, I would be really grateful. I am looking forward to getting started tomorrow, looking forward to getting back playing in front of big crowds and hopefully we’ll get a win to take us through to the next round.’
Those who follow Portuguese football avidly will know all about Gauld’s progress in the four-and-a-half years he’s spent there.
People with more varied social lives, on the other hand, must rely on the testimony of expert observers.
Hearts defender John Souttar, keen to square up against one of his old pals from Tannadice, said just last week that fans should expect to see a much-changed Gauld. Still brilliant. But not the mercurial tanner ba’ player who left these shores four-and-a-half years ago.
‘I suppose John has always known me as a No10,’ said Gauld. ‘But the last few years, I have been playing further back in midfield and, when I played there, I picked up different traits and stuff.
‘Hopefully I am coming back to be a similar type of player to what John knows from United.’
As for the school of thought which holds that he’s simply been unlucky not to make further progress in his career overseas, well, his decision to choose the No13 jersey at Hibs is a deliberate attempt to make a point.
‘I asked for 13,’ he said. ‘It’s a number I’ve always liked. You get a lot of people saying that No 13 is unlucky.
‘But I wanted to show that, to me, that doesn’t mean anything — and hopefully I can make it luckier.’