Million pound man Luke McCowan stole deadline day headlines with his switch to Celtic.
But one of the midfielder’s former coaches insists it came as little surprise to him.
Davie White has been head of Ayr United’s Youth Academy for 17 years and worked closely with McCowan when the teenager burst on to the scene at Somerset Park. White, who played a key role in the player’s development prior to his first team breakthrough at United, believes the move to Celtic Park could act as a pivotal moment for his own Academy setup.
Big noise currently surrounds young talent like Dylan Watret and Ollie Ecrepont, with White confident his production line of talent is hitting top gear.
And in McCowan, he says the results bear testament to the kind of work going on behind the scenes to develop top stars of the future at Somerset.
White told the Ayrshire Post: “In Luke we can point to a million pound player who is hopefully now going to play Champions League football. That is phenomenal for us. As the club who talent ID’d him and were his first contact at academy level, that is a major boost to us and something other players and parents can look at as proof of a pathway.
“Two of our scouts, Raymond Pattinson and John Sommerville, found Luke and we brought him in on trial initially as a left back. But we quickly saw his ability to play further forward and within a couple of games had signed him to our academy structure.
“At that point, our setup was to have teams at under 17s and under 20s. It was vital to Luke’s development that he had that extra year in the 20s. In all honesty, if the structure was like now where it stops at under 18s, I’m not sure he would have been signed on a professional deal at that stage – the feeling may have been that it was too soon. But he was able to have that extra year in the 20s and his development just took off.
“There was just a turning point during that year where the manager (Ian McCall) said no…we can’t hold this boy back any longer. We had to get him into first team training and within a couple of weeks he was on a professional contract and was flying.”
All told, McCowan spent three years in United’s Academy setup and did hard yards out on loan with spells at Lugar Boswell Thistle and Annbank United. His form in the Ayr first team was eventually rewarded with a move under freedom of contract to Dundee, where he would win the Championship title and go on to become club captain before his move to Celtic.
White added: “Luke’s biggest strength was that he was always adaptable to whatever game and environment he was playing in. He had incredible drive and was always sore on himself – but for good reasons. His ability to understand his strengths and limitations was absolutely outstanding.
“When he came to us at the age of 15 that was quite late but he was a really quick learner. Within a short space of time we could see what a talent we had on our hands. Myself and Tam Tait, who were working with the under 20s age group at the time, could see we had a wee gem on our hands.
“I always talked to Luke when he was at Ayr about what was next. And it was quite emotional for me that within hours of signing for Celtic, he texted to remind me of that. Already, he is thinking of what is next for him and setting these next targets. He doesn’t want to stand still and that’s an indication of why he is a million pound player.