Exactly one year after arriving, Zak Rudden has exited Dundee, making the short switch to Tayside rivals St Johnstone.
His departure is, as things stand, only for the rest of the season after agreeing a loan deal at McDiarmid Park.
However, his time at Dens Park hasn’t gone as well as anybody hoped.
A striker with a keen eye for goal in the lower leagues, the Dark Blues put a lot of faith in the Scotland U/21 international last January.
But 12 months later – and after nine goals in 40 appearances for the club – Rudden is off to McDiarmid Park.
So why hasn’t it worked out for Rudden and Dundee?
Step up
Rudden was unproven at Premiership level but had shown ability in front of goal at Partick Thistle and Falkirk.
📅 OTD 2022 | Dundee signed Zak Rudden on a loan deal from Partick Thistle
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— The Dee Archive (@TheDeeArchive) January 31, 2023
With goals an issue in a Dundee team struggling for results, then-boss James McPake backed the former Rangers kid to bring a much-needed cutting edge to his side.
And it started off well; a fine strike to open the scoring in a key match against Ross County on his first start promised much.
But Dundee lost that game and McPake lost his job soon after.
Rudden, a rookie thrust into a top-flight relegation battle with high expectations, was now suddenly without the manager who’d put so much faith in him.
And the disconnect between players, manager, club owners and fans last season was as far from a nurturing environment as you can get for a young player.
The season ended in a dismal relegation with that goal against Ross County being Rudden’s sole strike in 13 appearances.
Fresh start
A good sign for any striker is an enduring confidence they will get goals for their team and, despite that disappointing first six months, Rudden’s belief was undimmed.
Pre-season he publicly set himself a target of 20 goals for the season.
The logic was clear – he’d got nine in half a campaign at Partick Thistle and reckoned he could double that across a full season, with a couple more added for good measure.
There was also a new manager at Dens in Gary Bowyer and a new training ground to enjoy at Gardyne Campus.
It was a happier place and results were decent.
A run of starts in August brought a couple of goals and then a third in four games followed from the bench in a 3-0 home win over Queen’s Park.
Pecking order
But that win over the Spiders saw him lose his place to Zach Robinson and the man on loan from AFC Wimbledon was fast making himself first-choice striker.
Robinson was growing in stature, scoring goals but also providing a focal point for his team.
That aspect of Rudden’s game was still short of what his team required. And Bowyer revealed last week they’d had discussions over where improvements were needed.
“His link-up play is something we know about – we have spoken about that with Zak and we know he needs to get better at that,” Bowyer told Courier Sport last week before news of a St Johnstone bid emerged.
“He is fully aware of that but every striker has different strengths.
“Zak has done well for us when he’s been the only fit striker and we’ve asked him to lead the line on his own.
“But we’ve got people back fit and there’s competition for places.”
Exit
Given Rudden’s own goalscoring ambitions, he’d probably accept he hasn’t reached the heights hoped at Dens Park in the past 12 months.
Still only 22, there is plenty of time for him to develop and become the Premiership player Dundee thought they were getting.
However, if he was still seen as the man to fire the Dark Blues to promotion this season, anything but a huge offer from St Johnstone would have been knocked back.
Bowyer has talked of being “creative” in the transfer window in terms of working their budget, and the decision to accept the approach from Saints suggests Rudden was expendable to dark blue ambitions.
In recent games he’d been last striker off the bench, falling behind Kwame Thomas, Alex Jakubiak and Cillian Sheridan in the pecking order and hasn’t scored a league goal from open play since October.
Though he remains one of the top scorers at the club, Bowyer has shown he wants more from his frontmen as he aims for the Championship title.
Rudden, however, now has another shot at the Premiership while Dundee head down a different path in search of the same destination.
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