Just last week his manager expressed the opinion that, when they’re not broken, Scott Fraser can have the world at his feet.
Inevitably that led to plenty flak flying his way from his Dundee United team-mates but the 22-year-old midfielder admits he was still delighted to be on the receiving end of such praise from the boss.
And the Dundonian is determined to prove Ray McKinnon knows what he’s talking about.
“I didn’t see all of what the manager said last week. I didn’t read the full thing but I heard about it because the boys were giving me stick when the articles appeared,” he said.
“For me, it’s always nice to read when someone is saying nice things about you.
“I certainly don’t see it as putting pressure on me because I believe in myself enough and I think I can go and do what he says.
“I enjoy playing under the manager here and I think he believes in me a lot.
“Hopefully this year I can get a run in the centre of the pitch and with the wide men we’ve brought in there is no need for me to go and play out there.
“My aim is definitely to push on and help the team as much as I can.”
Just as it looked like he was doing that last season, a broken foot suffered at St Mirren in March effectively ruined his campaign.
And although he returned to make brief appearances against Falkirk and Hamilton in the promotion play-offs, Fraser has revealed had he sought medical opinion before those early appearances, he almost certainly wouldn’t have been allowed to play.
“I know I came on in a couple of the play-off games but if you speak to the club doctors I think they’ll say I probably shouldn’t have played in them.
“I just wanted to get back and help the team but I probably wasn’t ready and it was taking a risk.”
And even though he played a big part in Saturday’s Betfred Cup win over St Mirren, Fraser was still in pain from the injury, though it has to be stressed this time he had the OK from the medics to be involved.
“We had a program to follow while we were off and I tried to do running and stuff but it was too sore.
“Then I came back in and I felt it on the first day of pre-season when I was working with the physio.
“It still aches a bit when I play but I’ve spoken to the doctors and had X-rays and it’s healing well.
“It’s not 100% yet but it’s OK to play and, touch wood, it isn’t going to break again.”
Returning to the key role he’s likely to have this term, Fraser believes summer signings like Billy King, James Keatings and Paul McMullan mean he has players who will make it easier for him to help provide the ammunition that can fire United to promotion this time round.
“You saw Paul McMullan’s finish on Saturday and to be fair to him he’s already had a few of those in training since he arrived.
“These players will improve me as a player. The two wide men have pace and they all will make good runs in the forward area.
“I believe in myself that I can find them with a pass when they do and Saturday was a good start. The more we play and train with each other the more that will improve.
“Before the Raith Rovers game I’d only played a half against Blackpool and a half against Peterhead in the pre-season games and I missed the first week or so of training because my foot was still bothering me.
“That means we haven’t done that much work together and the more we do the better it’s going to get.”
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