John Rankin was impressed by Jon Daly when the two of them were teenagers on trial at Arsenal over a decade ago, and he’s turned into an even bigger fan of the Irish striker now they’ve eventually become team-mates.
The former Hibs man has revealed that they were both put under the microscope in the early days of Arsene Wenger’s time at Highbury in the 1990s, and both were offered terms by the London club.
Their football careers took them in different directions, only for them to be brought together at Tannadice.
Rankin recalled: ”When I went to the PFA awards last season he came up to me and said: ‘Can you remember when we were at Arsenal together as youngsters?’
”We were both about 14 when we were on trial there. He was massive even then. It must have been 1997 or 1998. Arsene Wenger had just got the job and the likes of Anelka and Bergkamp were there. Don Howe brought us down.
”Chris Burke was another one who flew down with me and then I ended up staying in the same hotel as Jon. I think they were going to offer us a contract but I went to Manchester and Jon chose to go elsewhere as well.
”I’ve got a lot of respect for him being able to remember back to those days. We’re talking 13 or 14 years later. It says a lot about him.”
Jon Daly is crucial to United, Rankin said.
He explained: ”Jon’s got a great goals ratio. It’s better than Goodie’s (David Goodwillie). Because he’s an old-fashioned style of centre forward he maybe doesn’t get the headlines. But he’s got great feet. We see that in training every day. He’s second to none.
“He’s our top scorer and is second top in the league. That shows how well he’s been doing. We’re the top goalscorers outside the Old Firm and a lot of that is down to Jon. He was a good finisher in his younger days but he’s added a lot to his game since, and his hold-up play is brilliant.
”It’s not all about him. He’s very unselfish as a striker. You could see him having a few years left in him yet, and he can also drop back to play at centre-half.
”He brought the best out of Goodie and now him and Johnny have a great understanding they link up really well.”
The Tangerines will be looking to continue their impressive recent form of late when St Mirren visit Tannadice on Saturday. At the moment Peter Houston’s men are producing results and attractive football.
Rankin said: ”Saturday’s result (a 5-1 victory over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park) might have flattered us but there have been plenty of times recently when we deserved more than we got.
”We’re looking to string a series of results together now. We’ve been really strong defensively recently and haven’t conceded many goals, and we’ve been pleasing on the eye going forward.”