Sheffield Wednesday have placed a loan bid in for Sporting Lisbon’s Ryan Gauld according to a report from The Sun.
The 20-year-old winger was seen as one of Scotland’s young stars two years ago when he was at Dundee United, leading some pundits to dub him as the ‘Scottish Messi’.
In 2014 that reputation earned him a £3m move to Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon, the same team current England star Eric Dier progressed through before moving to Tottenham Hotspur, and he has been playing for the B team ever since.
But according to Gauld himself, his development has stalled out in Portugal and he is looking to move away on loan so he can reach his potential. He’s also being encouraged to do this by his Scotland U21 manager Ricky Sbragia who is hoping to he can become a star player for his national side in the coming years.
This has attracted the attention of Sheffield Wednesday, who have always been willing to sign players from Portugal including Lucas Joao, Marco Matias and Vincent Sasso, who have been looking for a new winger this summer after Aiden McGeady returned to Everton after an underwhelming loan.
With players such as Connor Wickham and Ross Barkley realising their potential at Hillsborough with loan deals at the club, Sporting will hope that Gauld can do the same.