It’s a pity we won’t see Gauld on centre stage

WHO can criticise Ryan Gauld for opting to take up the offer of a £41,000-a-week, three-year deal with MLS strugglers Vancouver Whitecaps? This is incredible money for a player with a modest CV and it comes with the carrot of a new life in a delightful city.

Sadly, it also appears to be the final confirmation that Gauld never will fulfil his early potential at a high level of the club game.

Despite SC Farense’s relegation, the 25-year-old won plaudits in the Primeira Liga last term with reports stating his move to Vancouver is only being held up by questions over his entitlement to a free transfer.

Good luck to him. It is just that, for those who saw something really special when Gauld broke through at Dundee United, there is surely a sadness that he has not gone on to succeed a little higher up the food chain.

He looked like a player who could go thrive in Spain or England or Germany, but perhaps the MLS can still be a platform from which to offer some satisfaction to those of us who have always hoped to see him in a Scotland shirt.

Gauld’s exclusion from Steve Clarke’s Euro 2020 squad was understandable and it will be difficult to judge his displays in a lower-grade league.

However, technicallyproficient players such as Gauld (right) and Billy Gilmour must be the future of the game here. Euro 2020 showed that. Those games proved we have nowhere near enough in terms of attacking quality. Many of the players are not as good as we thought.

Maybe Gauld isn’t either, but if he can turn round a failing Vancouver side, there may yet be a case for Clarke giving him a call. He’s still just too interesting to give up on altogether.