Time for Gauld to take out a loan, declares Sbragia
RYAN GAULD paid the price for his own folly the last time Scotland Under-21s faced France but, on Thursday, he has a chance to send his own stock — and that of his nation — rising again.
The Sporting Lisbon winger was sent off in the 2-1 defeat at Pittodrie last October and Ricky Sbragia’s side desperately need a victory when the teams meets again in Angers to revive their European Championship qualification hopes.
If Gauld’s red card in Aberdeen was symptomatic of his frustrations over a £3million move from Dundee United to Portugal which has yielded just two first-team appearances for Sporting in 20 months, Sbragia has sought to soothe the youngster.
The Scotland Under-21 coach’s own perspective of Thursday’s task in the small town near Nantes fluctuated wildly in the space of a few hours last week after Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman — who also played in that Pittodrie meeting — become the talk of Europe with his Champions League destruction of Juventus.
Coman, who has already been given a full cap by France, was promptly called into Didier Deschamps’ squad to face Holland.
However, Sbragia’s joy was short-lived as the Bayern hero’s place was promptly taken by Ousmane Dembele.
Only 18 years old, Dembele is the hottest property in Europe after his rookie season with Rennes and the striker could soon be alongside Coman in Munich, with the German club poised to offer £27m for the teenager and head off interest from Barcelona and Arsenal.
If that kind of talk sounds familiar to Gauld, it should. At Tannadice, he was being watched by Roma and Real Madrid before his lucrative transfer to Portugal in July 2014.
But Sporting’s decision to put him into the B team, which plays in the Portuguese Second Division, has halted the previously rapid rise.
Gauld has just turned 20 and is six months older than Coman, but the boy from Brechin was initially ahead of the French youngster after making his Dundee United debut at 16 and had 50 appearances before the transfer.
Coman had played just 16 games for Paris Saint Germain reserves — and only three in the first team — before a switch to Juventus on the same week Gauld joined Sporting.
Coman played for the Italian champions 15 times last season before Bayern took him on loan for a rental fee of £5.5m and Sbragia feels that Gauld has to explore a loan move of his own.
‘It was a great move for Ryan to go to Portugal,’ said Sbragia. ‘I spoke to him three days ago and he said everything was fantastic. He loves the football. I read a while back in the papers they were talking about him going on loan to an English club.
‘It’s nothing to do with me, but if he asked me I’d say: “Go to a team where you will get first-team football, whether it’s English or Scottish”.
‘Ryan is exceptional and still has that drive to play in Sporting’s first team.
‘It was a great opportunity for an 18-year-old to go over there and learn the culture. He didn’t say to me he’s frustrated but there will be a time when he looks for first-team football.
‘It is a learning experience for Ryan. The more he plays there, the better he’ll become. When he was suspended (after the red card against France), he was a miss for us because he can do things that are unpredictable.
‘He’s one I would always put in the team. I’ve seen Ryan grow, develop and fill out physically. He has a great football brain and he can always hurt opponents.’
Another of Sbragia’s players to progress since that Pittodrie setback is Donald Love.
The full-back made his Manchester United debut in the Europa League and the Rochdale-born player is one of four English-raised members — alongside Oliver McBurnie (born in Leeds), goalkeeper Jonathan Henly (Woking) and Dominic Hyam (born in Fife but brought up in Reading) — of this squad who qualify through their Scottish parents.