Wright is the perfect choice to fill Kent’s boots
WWII pilot uncle inspires Norwegian’s Canada bid
DEREK McINNES has backed Scott Wright to fill the void left by Rangers’ attacking talisman Ryan Kent.
Steven Gerrard expects to be without the £7million forward for several weeks after he pulled up with a hamstring injury in Thursday night’s Europa League defeat to Lyon.
McInnes handed Wright his Aberdeen debut at just 16 and believes he is the natural candidate to replace Kent for today’s Premiership visit of Motherwell.
The former Dons boss said: ‘He has competition but I do think if Kent is going to be missing then Scott is the player who is most similar in that he can go and eliminate people with his speed and trickery.
‘He’s already made a good impression and now he may well get a run at it.’
Writing in his regular Scottish Mail on Sunday column, McInnes also admits that he was opposed to Wright’s £150,000 transfer in January, agreed between the clubs after the 24-year-old signed a pre-contract deal with Rangers.
He added: ‘I never ever saw the sense in selling him because it really impacted on what we were trying to do at the time. For the fee that was agreed, I could see the sense for Rangers and for Scott. But not for Aberdeen.’
IF SONDRE Solholm Johansen makes a beeline for Scott Arfield at the end of today’s game at Ibrox, it won’t be to swap shirts. After making his break-out club move from Mjondalen to Motherwell, the defender is now keen to explore the possibility of broadening his international horizons — and Arfield might just be able to assist.
In the event of an approach, the Rangers midfielder would be advised to clear a few minutes from his post-match schedule.
As Solholm tells the story behind his eligibility for Arfield’s adopted country Canada, he rolls out a narrative that takes in his great uncle Andrew Carswell, a former fighter pilot in the Canadian Air Force and author of a book based on his World War II exploits.
Prior to that, he had provided a personal account of his own meeting with Lewis Hamilton last year, then segued into the virtues of a vegan diet and his appetite to explore the hills and lochs of his new country.
A veritable chatterbox, he has a head full of anecdotes he is quite happy to share.
At 26, he suspects the possibility of playing for his home country of Norway may have passed him by but the Canadian FA has been alerted and a big performance against Rangers would surely help his case.
After being overlooked by Scotland even as an English Premier League midfielder, Arfield made a similar switch of allegiance in 2016.
‘Hopefully, yeah, that would be good,’ said Solholm of the prospect of speaking to his opponent at some stage today. ‘It’s obviously a dream to play international football and it wouldn’t be weird to represent Canada because my mum has strong ties with that side of the family.
‘My agent told me they may be interested, so I just have to do stuff on the pitch and they’ll hopefully see there’s this guy with a Canadian grandparent who can do something.
‘My grandmother’s maiden name is Carswell and the family come from a place called Cache Lake, a little north of Toronto.
‘My mother’s uncle was a pilot in World War Two and he was shot down right outside Britain. He wrote a book about it called Over The Wire. He’s a war hero in Canada and was helped by the British Army to get away from the Germans.
‘It would be great to represent the country he helped to win the world war.’
Of course, Motherwell boss Graham Alexander hasn’t signed Solholm to tell stories. But speak to those in the know at Fir Park and they reckon his deadline-day arrival might be up there with Scottish football’s best transfer deals of the year. on a three-year contract, the defender strolled through his debut against Aberdeen and is ready to step up again for today’s trip to face the champions.
The Lanarkshire side enter the match in good fettle. After a summer of squad turmoil in which Declan Gallagher, Allan Campbell and Devante Cole were among the key players to depart, boss Alexander had a big rebuild on his hands.
After some shaky form in the Premier Sports Cup group stage, it has started to come together in recent weeks with three consecutive league victories taking the club into the top four ahead of the likes of Celtic and Aberdeen.
Solholm has only been in for a couple of weeks but admits he’s found the training regime tough.
‘The gaffer wants us to be fit, ready and competitive in terms of the physical part of the game,’ he says. ‘The guys say it is tougher under him than the previous manager.
‘Once everyone has adjusted to that — me especially and the guys who came in the summer — the fitness level will be so good.
‘We do a lot of running, with and without the ball, we do lots of gym work. Over time, this will benefit us and against Rangers it will help because they will probably have a lot of the ball.
‘By hard work, we will create good chances and, if not outrun Rangers, be at their level of fitness and perhaps even better. That’s the goal.’
In an effort to increase his power, Solholm has reintroduced meat into his diet since moving to Scotland.
‘As an athlete, you’re always looking for ways to improve your health and your game,’ he reasoned. ‘I talked to many athletes who’ve had great experiences on a vegan, plant-based diet.
‘I tried it out and felt I didn’t need meats but, here, I’ve been trying to make the transition over to chicken and stuff like that. It’s been good, the stomach was a bit weird in the beginning, but it’s getting there.
‘My body feels good, my energy is good and I feel in a good place.’
The merits of the diet were underscored during a personal audience with Formula 1 champion Hamilton.
As a brand ambassador for Puma, Solholm was invited to a pre-pandemic meet-and-greet event in London at which he picked the racing driver’s brains.
He added: ‘It was cool because he is a world superstar and this s*** kid from Norway comes in and wants to talk about his diet.
‘The team around him were strict — ‘Don’t ask too many questions!’ — but I stayed for like three, four, five minutes.
‘He was nice, humble, at least for the few minutes we were standing there. I am a huge Formula 1 fan from when I was a kid watching Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen. Talking about it, I still feel a little bit starstruck.
‘He loves to go snowboarding and is really keen to explore Norway. I just told him where he should go and at what time of year.
‘I asked him about the diet, how he felt it suited him and affected his performance levels.
‘He says he feels great, his sleep is much better.’
Solholm started out at Stromsgodset, the club with which Ronny Deila and Stefan Johansen won the Norwegian title before moving to Celtic in 2014. The presence of those two in Glasgow exposed a Norwegian audience to Scottish football and Solholm is glad to be experiencing it first hand.
The length of contract given to Solholm suggests one of two things — either Motherwell intend to build a team round him or they are confident they can sell him on for a handy profit.
For however long he is here, he intends to immerse himself in the Scottish experience.
‘I’ve always wanted to do this,’ continued Solholm. ‘It’s a lifelong dream to move away from my country and play in a bigger league.
‘I hope to explore Scotland, there is some beautiful scenery and I look forward to doing some sightseeing. with my girlfriend.
‘But the training here has been so tough that when I’ve got back to the hotel, I’m just flat out on the bed! The only time I move is for food.’
With so many anecdotes crammed inside his head, Solholm would likely make the perfect dinner party guest. It would, however, be prudent to check his dietary requirements in advance.