The Gauld standard: Dundee United's Baby Messi first wowed at Brechin Under-Nines (and wasn’t their sole star of the future)

Long before Ryan Gauld became known as ‘Baby Messi’, he was just a regular baby-faced kid kicking a ball about a school gymnasium.

A small skelp of a lad, training away from the elements inside Brechin High School in 2003, the quiet, well-mannered kid looked like any other football-daft seven-year-old in the room. But that all changed the moment the ball landed at his feet.

Fittingly for a boy who 10 years later would be at the centre of a media circus, amid interest from Europe’s top clubs, the diminutive Gauld announced his precocious talent by turning a routine skills drill into a dazzling spot of impromptu juggling.

Team dream: Ryan Gauld, 17, has attracted interest from top clubs around Europe

So good was the youngster that his coach, the ex-Brechin City professional footballer Jack Souttar, gaped in stunned silence before letting the little lad with the impeccable technique take over teaching the rest of the Brechin City Youths’ Under-Nine squad.

‘Ryan had fantastic ability, even as a very young boy,’ Souttar told Sportsmail. ‘I remember doing an exercise where the aim was to drop the ball and kill it dead on your foot.

‘It was a difficult exercise for younger kids, but straight away Ryan did it with ease and then followed up with over 50 keepy-uppies… and counting.

With the big boys: Despite his age, Gauld is starring for Dundee United

‘Soon, he’d beaten my own record - and he was just seven years old. In the end, I let him show the other kids what to do. Ryan was, and still is, an outstanding player, but a great lad too from a terrific family.’

Now starring for Dundee United, Gauld has attracted admiring glances from Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool - all before his 18th birthday later this month.

Incredibly, though, in those Brechin City youth sides from Under-9 to Under-12s, all that glittered wasn’t just Gauld. In fact, the young wide midfielder shared joint-billing with Souttar’s son John.

Young guns: Dundee Utd manager Jackie McNamara (centre back) with his teen sensations who have signed contract extensions. (Cockwise from back left) John Souttar, Darren Petrie, Euan Spark and Gauld

Now 17, back in January John became the youngest Dundee United first-team player in history when he made his debut against Aberdeen at Pittodrie at 16 years and 99 days.

In October, Souttar was the subject of a £600,000 bid from Premier League Sunderland, amid reported interest from QPR and Everton, but duly turned down the move to stay, sign a new United deal and focus on getting game time at Tannadice.

Unsurprisingly, back in their youth days, with Gauld and Souttar in midfield, and current Dundee United kid Euan Spark in defence, Brechin City Youths ran riot.

Souttar Senior, who ran the Brechin youths with fellow coach David Taylor, said: ‘At first, we thought the opposition wasn’t up to much.

‘But it soon became obvious we just had some very, very good players.

‘We went two full years winning every single league match we played in 2005 and 2006. I think our record win was 16-0 against Friockheim, a village team based around eight miles from Brechin.

Sweet 16: John Souttar became the youngest player for Dundee United in January at 16 years and 99 days

‘We won the Broughty Ferry Tournament two years in a row. And that simply didn’t happen to a wee team from Brechin.



'Those victories first brought Ryan and John to the attention of Dundee United scout Alec Robertson but actually the whole team signed professional with Dundee United.

‘John and Ryan got a lot of goals from midfield, but the top scorer in our team was actually a boy called Adam McWilliam.’

After United, McWilliam ended up at Montrose and was last spotted playing junior football last season for Arbroath Vics in the McBookie.com North Division. Souttar and Gauld, by contrast, are currently flying in both their personal and professional lives.

The duo are currently preparing to move into a flat in Tayside, along with their 19-year-old United team-mate and Scotland Under-21 defender Andy Robertson.

It is the latest stage in a friendship that began at birth, with Gauld’s mum Gillian a friend of Souttar’s mum Heather from their school days at Mearns Academy in Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire.

As well as training with Brechin youths, Gauld and Souttar spent three nights a week for four years under the wily watch of coach Ian Cathro.

All-conquering: The Brechin youth team, including Gauld (front sixth left), Spark (front fourth left) and Souttar (back second left) show their medals at the St Andrews Tournament in 2006

They were joined at his Dundee football clinics by Spark, plus current highly-rated but unrelated Dundee United Under-20 midfielders Scott Smith and Brad Smith, and striker Jamie Montgomery.

It was soon noted locally that the players who stood out were coming from Cathro Soccer School. But while whispers of interest from Rangers and Celtic in Gauld and Souttar grew, nothing materialised.

Craig Levein, the Dundee United manager at the time, spotted Gauld and Scott Smith - rated by Cathro as highly as Gauld and Souttar - playing for a United under-age team. He sought out Cathro and, in a surprise move, appointed the then-unknown coach head of United’s youth academy at the age of just 22.

He was then fast-tracked into the SFA and placed in charge of the regional performance school in Dundee. But he opted to move abroad to fulfil his coaching dream and, at 27, Cathro is now part of the backroom staff at Portuguese Premeira Liga club Rio Ave.

He is in no doubt that Gauld’s ability would enable him to succeed on the Continent.

‘His movement, awareness and technical ability are all outstanding,’ Cathro said recently. ‘He is already playing in a way that can break down European teams and allow him to play in European leagues.

Carving up: Gauld enticing the Caley Thistle defence to dive in, a la Messi ‘In Scotland, it is quite easy for an attacker to find space. It opens up fairly naturally because of the way the game is played here. Leave the country and that doesn’t happen. ‘Ryan has the skill set you need when there is a block of nine players who know how to defend. If he goes into a top European environment at the correct moment, things will really start for him.’ Between 2005 and 2009, Gauld and Co were coached intensively by Cathro. After that, they graduated to work under the respected United youth director and Under-20 coach Stevie Campbell. Under the ex-Dundee midfielder and his assistant Dave Bowman, who played in United’s 1987 UEFA Cup Final team, the Tannadice club’s youth set-up is now the envy of Scotland. Many more gems are set to be mined, including midfielder Scott Fraser, Scotland Under-19s captain Darren Petrie and Harry Souttar, John’s younger brother, who is causing a similar stir in Scottish footballing circles as his elder sibling. Gauld and John Souttar - who is called Soapy after Soapy Soutar from Dundee-based comic strip Oor Wullie - are rated by Campbell as the best talents he has seen in his eight years in the job. He still excitedly remembers Gauld’s first outing for his Under-19s last year. It was against Hearts at Heriot Watt University in Riccarton, Edinburgh and, watching that day, was Scotland Under-21 manager Billy Stark. Stark scribbled down the unknown kid’s name in his notebook and, within 12 months, had started him in a 1-1 Euro qualifier against Georgia in Paisley last month. ‘Talk about a sudden impact,’ Campbell tells Sportsmail. ‘Ryan first came to train with United’s full-time young prospects at 14 on a week’s trial. Within two years, he was in our Under-19s because he was ready.And he handled it unbelievably well.

In his defence: When Gauld gets out of Scotland, he'll face more polished defenders, but those who know believe he'll flourish and has the potential to be up their with the likes of Messi

‘In his first game away to Hearts, we were hardly in the game, but Ryan had us 2-0 up with two sublime goals. One was a terrific instinctive finish and the other was a dribble and a fabulous finish. I remember standing with my mouth open, thinking: “Oh my God!” To be able to do that stuff at such a young age was incredible. We lost 4-2, but I knew this was the start of something special for Gauldy.

‘Dundee United have had guys like David Goodwillie and Johnny Russell, and Mark Wilson before that, but Gauldy and Soapy are the best I’ve seen. They’ve made a terrific impact on the first team at such a young age. They are the real deal.’

With Gauld and Souttar in the team, United have lost just once in the league since August. Jackie McNamara’s team has scored an amazing 13 goals in their last three matches.

Inevitably, scouts have been flocking to Tannadice, where they have seen Gauld assist seven goals in his past two games. Campbell admits the clock is ticking on his two brightest young stars. Equally, though, he knows a parting of the ways is just the way of the world for a club like United.

He said: ‘Gone are the days of the long-serving stars like (United’s UEFA Cup Final 1987 vintage) Paul Hegarty, Dave Narey and Maurice Malpas.

‘If you look at our young midfielder Stuart Armstrong, who made the first team a bit later, he’s now at 100 games. If we could get 100 games out of each starlet, we would be happy.

The kid's alright: Dundee United's Brian Graham celebrates a goal with Gauld, who laid it on

‘Of course, they will be sold at some point but, as long as we can enjoy them while they are here, that’s the main thing — and we are certainly doing that at the moment.

‘Big clubs will be interested, but then you take that as a compliment. And, if one of our young kids ends up wiping out the debt, and maybe more, then the chairman will be happy.

‘That’s just the way it is these days. We totally understand that.’

So what is United’s secret to their seemingly inexhaustible mine of gems?

‘There’s no secret,’ laughs Campbell. ‘It’s all just down to good scouting, talent, good coaching and a lot of hard work on everyone’s part.

‘And it helps to have a manager in Jackie McNamara and his assistant Simon Donnelly who believe in good young players, but also rest them when needed.

‘This is a great club for young kids to learn their trade — and there’s a real caring, family atmosphere.

‘Recently against Ross County, nine of the 18 stripped Dundee United players had come through the system - and that makes me very proud.

Halcyon days: Kevin Gallacher, Ian Ferguson and John Clark celebrate a 2-1 UEFA Cup win over Barcelona in 1987, a time when Dundee may have been able to keep players like Gauld and Soutter long-term

‘I’m a lucky man, I love my job. It’s so rewarding to see guys like Gauldy and Soapy doing so well.

‘Young Scottish players get a hard time of it, but I’ve never believed the doom and gloom.

‘We’ve got a really talented bunch of kids at United but, just as importantly, they are a really nice bunch of boys, too.’

That’s a sentiment shared by teachers at Gauld’s old school.

They remember a kind, caring boy, able to override his will-to-win instincts to ensure less fortunate children - including those with learning disabilities - were fully included within five-a-sides during PE.

‘Ryan was known for his caring side and he always made an effort to support other pupils, including on the football pitch,’ said Stephen Milne, faculty head of health & leisure at Mearns Academy.