Former Dundee United midfielder Ryan Gauld has been promoted to Sporting’s first-team squad for the new Portuguese season.
The Scotland under-21 international has been told by the Lisbon club’s boss Jorge Jesus to report for pre-season training with the senior side after spending the last couple of years with the B team.
It is a huge boost for 20-year-old Gauld’s career.
As recently as last month he feared he wasn’t making the progress he had hoped for, saying: I think my development has slowed down a little bit.
“It’s nearing the end of my second year in the B team.
“To be perfectly honest, it’s not what I hoped for.
“It has slowed down in the last few months and that’s why I was hoping to go out on loan and play first-team games as that would accelerate my development again.”
Sporting finished the season as runners-up to Benfica in Portugal’s Primeira Liga and will enter the Champions League at the group stages.
