Gauld still believes he has a Sporting chance even if numbers don’t add up
● Loan spell with Setubal has Gauld optimistic he can make it in Lisbon
The stand-out figure from Ryan Gauld’s three years at Sporting Club de Portugal refers to something that will never happen.
When the Lisbon side prised the then teenager attacker from Dundee United tney inserted a £50m buy-out clause into his contract. An act of wishful thinking, the idea of them recouping even a large slice of the £3m they were said to have paid the Tannadice club for the apparent wunderkind now seems something that will never happen.
Not that Gauld has any interest in them testing the waters – despite recent reports suggesting Sporting had lost patience in the quicksilver creator fulfilling his undoubted potential after a paltry two senior appearances in total for them.
The now 21-year-old refuses to believe all hope is lost at Sporting. Now back in Scotland for his summer break, Gauld intends to persevere in the Portuguse capital, having embraced both the personal and professional aspects of growing up there.
“The way I’m looking at it they gave me a six-year contract,” he said. “It’s not gone as I’ve wanted but I’ve still got three more years to try to put that right. Hopefully, the second three years can be better than the first. I’m hoping to get into the team and kick on.
“I’ve not been told anything as of yet [about next season]. I’ve just been told to go back for pre-season like everybody else. I suppose it will maybe depend how that goes and how I get on with it. They’ll maybe make a decision after that on what is going to happen and what is going to be best for my development.”
Gauld refuses to consider that the development of United contemporaries Stuart Armstrong and Andrew Robertson has shown up his career choice – the former a vital cog for an all-conquering Celtic while the latter has been linked with such as Liverpool and Sporting and a £12m move away from relegated Hull City.
A loan to Vitoria de Setubal in the first half of this season offered Gauld hope before it was ended after a dispute between the clubs.
“If I could go back to the time, knowing how it would go, I still wouldn’t change it,” he said of his Lisbon move. “I still feel I’ve really come on as a player. The first six months of this season I was training every day at a First Division team and starting to play games, which is what I wanted just to see if I could handle it and deal with the expectations of the league. I thought I did, especially in November and December when I was starting to get games.
“Obviously, Sporting cut that loan short. It was frustrating for me because I’d just started to get my place in the team, but then again Sporting is my parent club, so I have to go with what they say.
“Coming back to Sporting and training every day with guys who won the Euros last summer with Portugal is obviously going to help my development a lot.
“I trained with the A team every day in the second half of the season and then at weekends I would go and play with the B team, although I made the top team squad for the last three or four games of the season.
“I was still very much round about it but I just didn’t get the game time that I wanted.”
Regrouping back in his homeland - with Hearts managed Ian Cathro his early mentor – holds no appeal. “Not at all [am I in a hurry to come back]. It would have to be special circumstances. I really enjoy living there. I enjoy the football and I enjoy the lifestyle – everything. It’s not something I’m in a rush to get away from.”
Yet, Gauld keeps tabs on events in Scotland. He is surprised at the recent struggles of his old club, United, and his old associate, Cathro, backing them both to come good. He is ever the optimist. ● Ryan Gauld was speaking at the Tesco Bank Football Challenge at Kildrum Primary School, Cumbernauld. Over 120,000 children have now taken place in the grassroots programme.