Gauld To Join Lisbon

Portuguese outfit Sporting Lisbon recently spent £ 3 million in acquiring the services of Scottish midfielder Ryan Gauld. The deal has surprised many given that the player is only 18 years old. It is extremely uncommon for Scottish footballers – even for the talented ones – to leave British football at such a young age. In addition to this, Gauld will be playing at a club where the likes of Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo came through the ranks. This has put massive pressure on the young shoulders, but he says that that he is not coming to the club in order to follow the likes of Ronaldo.

He is only concentrating on showing his ability to the world. Gauld reportedly has a release clause of €60 million inserted into the six-year contract that he signed with the Portuguese club. Even though it is highly unlikely to be activated right now, the deal has resulted in a number of top European clubs taking notice on the 18-year-old. He came through the ranks at Dundee United before making the debut for the Scottish club in 2012. He went on to make 42 appearances in the league for the Scottish club in these two years.

Yet to appear for the national team, he has featured in the U21 teams on a couple of occasions.

“They’re [Figo and Ronaldo] two very good players but I’m just concentrating on myself. Everyone knows it’s a great club, a very big club, good at developing younger players. That’s played a bit part in my signing. They’re just looking forward to me going over for training and we’ll see how it goes from there. The deal shows that they’re not expecting too much, too soon – it’s probably a long-term investment. I would just like to say thanks for everyone at Dundee United for giving me this chance,” said Gauld.