Ryan Stewart Gauld (born 16 December 1995) is a Scottish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

club Vancouver Whitecaps FC. He began his professional career at Dundee United, where he helped them reach the 2014 Scottish Cup Final, and his abilities on the ball earned comparisons to

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

from the Scottish media. In July 2014, he transferred to Portuguese club Sporting CP for a fee of around £3 million. Gauld mainly appeared for the club's

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It re ...

, and was also loaned to Vitória de Setúbal,

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

, Farense and Hibernian. In July 2019, Gauld moved to Farense on a permanent basis. In July 2021, he signed for MLS club Vancouver Whitecaps FC, where he won the

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship (french: Championnat canadien) is an annual soccer tournament contested by premier Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. It is contes ...

in 2022. Gauld has represented Scotland at under-19 and under-21 levels. He was called up to the senior squad for the first time in September 2014.

Early life

Gauld grew up in Laurencekirk,

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area incl ...

, where he attended Laurencekirk Primary before becoming a pupil at Mearns Academy. In 2002, Gauld began to play for Brechin City Boys Club (now renamed Brechin City Youths), where he was part of a successful team alongside John Souttar and

Euan Spark Euan Spark (born 29 November 1996) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a defender for Brechin City. Spark has previously played for Dundee United, Dunfermline Athletic, Forfar Athletic, Berwick Rangers, Brechin City and Elgin City. Early ...

. The trio also developed their skills at coaching schools run in Dundee by Ian Cathro, before they all joined Dundee United's youth system in 2006 at the age of nine.

Club career

Dundee United

Gauld made his

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

debut as a 16-year-old, as an 87th-minute substitute for

Johnny Russell John Russell may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Russell (English painter) (1745–1806), English painter * John Russell (Australian painter) (1858–1930), Australian painter * John Russell (screenwriter) (1885–1956), author and scree ...

in the final match of the 2011–12 season, a 2–0 win away to

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

on 13 May. On 24 January 2013, Gauld signed an extended contract keeping him at the club until January 2016. Later on in the 2012–13 season, on 1 April, he made his first start against

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an ol ...

at McDiarmid Park and marked the occasion with his first senior goal to open a game which ended 1–1. On 4 November 2013, during the 2013–14 season, Gauld's contract was further extended, to run until May 2016. Five days later, he scored twice in a 4–0 win against

at Fir Park. On 15 December 2013, the ''Daily Record'' reported that

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

's Scottish manager David Moyes wanted to personally "

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement * Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

" Gauld, and take the opportunity to run the rule over the potential of other young Dundee United players such as defenders John Souttar and Andrew Robertson. However, the following day, also his 18th birthday, Gauld's contract was further extended until May 2017. Around the same time, he was being tracked by English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

pair Everton and

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, Italy's A.S. Roma and Spain's Real Madrid. On 12 April 2014, Gauld played in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Ibrox, as United defeated

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

3–1 to advance to the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. He made the run into the penalty area from which

Stuart Armstrong Stuart Armstrong (born 30 March 1992) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Southampton and the Scotland national team. Armstrong began his professional career with Dundee United, making his debut in 2010 and ...

scored the opening goal, and assisted the second from Gary Mackay-Steven. Five days later, he was shortlisted for the

PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year The PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year, formerly known as the Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year, is named at the end of every Scottish football season. The members of the Professional Footballers' Association Scotland vote on which of it ...

award, which was eventually awarded to his teammate Robertson. In the Cup Final on 17 May, Gauld replaced Mackay-Steven for the final 26 minutes as Dundee United lost 2–0 to St Johnstone at Celtic Park. Gauld's season ended with eight goals in 38 games across all competitions, of which six were scored in his 31 league matches.

Sporting Clube de Portugal

On 2 July 2014,

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foo ...

announced the signing of Gauld from Dundee United, for an undisclosed fee rumoured to be in the region of £3 million. He signed a six-year contract with a €60 million buy-out clause. He credited Sporting's track record of developing players such as Luís Figo,

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

and Nani for his decision to join them. Despite being put into the club's B-team, Gauld was named in the 25-man squad to play in the UEFA Champions League after impressing manager Marco Silva during training sessions. He made his debut for Sporting B on 10 August 2014, replacing

Palhinha Palhinha may refer to: * Palhinha (footballer, born 1950) (1950–2023), Vanderlei Eustáquio de Oliveira, Brazilian retired footballer * Palhinha (footballer, born 1967), Jorge Ferreira da Silva, Brazilian retired footballer * João Palhinha J ...

at half time in a 1–0 defeat away to Farense. Seventeen days later, in his fourth match for the club, he scored for the first time, netting the second in a 3–0 home victory over

Desportivo Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

. On 7 December, he scored a second goal, opening a 4–3 win at Lisbon neighbours Clube Oriental de Lisboa with a 20-yard volley. On 21 December, he was sent off for two bookings in a 3–1 triumph at Vitória de Guimarães B. He finished the season with three goals from 26 games for the B-team, the third coming on 7 February 2015, when he equalised as the team came from behind to win 2–1 against SC Olhanense. Gauld made his debut for the first team on 29 December 2014 in a Taça da Liga game against Vitória S.C., playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 win. On his second start for the Sporting first team on 14 January 2015, Gauld was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in a 1–0 win in the same competition, against Boavista. Having been fouled by goalkeeper Daniel Monllor, he won the penalty converted by

Junya Tanaka is a Japanese professional footballer who plays for FC Gifu. Career He played 9 games for Kashiwa Reysol in 2009 as System Specially Designated Player during his last studying year in Juntendo University. After spending nearly six years pl ...

for the only goal. Four days later, he made his

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

debut, replacing André Martins for the last 25 minutes of a 4–2 win over

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atla ...

at the Estádio José Alvalade. Gauld scored twice for the first team in a 3–2 defeat away to neighbours

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Reste ...

in a Taça da Liga group game on 21 January. In his second season in the Portuguese capital, Gauld scored his first goal of the B-team's campaign on 26 August 2015, the only one of the away match at S.C. Covilhã in the 84th minute. He followed this on 12 September with a strike in a 4–0 triumph at Oriental. Gauld matched his goal tally in Segunda Liga from the previous season on 3 October, when he opened a 1–1 draw at FC Famalicão, and succeeded it on 28 November with his fourth goal of the campaign, assuring the same result at Gil Vicente F.C.

Loans

On 20 July 2016, amidst interest from England's

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

, Gauld was loaned to Portuguese top-flight team Vitória de Setúbal for the upcoming season, alongside his teammate

André Geraldes André Geraldes de Barros (born 2 May 1991) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a right back for Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv. Club career Born in Maia, Porto District, Geraldes spent most of his youth career with hometown cl ...

. He made his debut for Vitória on 26 October 2016 in a Taça da Liga tie against lower-league Santa Clara, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 win. He made his league debut three days later, coming on as a late substitute for

Nenê Bonilha Luis Otavio Bonilha de Oliveira, known as Nenê Bonilha (17 February 1992), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Tombense. Club career He started in the youth of the Society Sports Sanjoanense in Sã ...

in a scoreless draw at home to

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Por ...

, his first game in Primeira Liga for 20 months. On 5 January 2017, it was reported that Gauld had been recalled from loan to train with Sporting CP B, due to Sporting CP being eliminated from the Taça da Liga by Vitória in controversial circumstances. He played nine second-tier games for the B-team over the rest of the season, and was sent off on 14 May at the end of a 2–1 home loss to Académica de Coimbra. On 24 July 2017, Gauld was loaned to Primeira Liga newcomers C.D. Aves. He was unable to play against his parent team on the first day of the season, however, he came on as an added-time substitute for Salvador Agra in the next game, a 2–2 draw with

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

on 13 August. In his fourth match on 11 September, he scored his first goal in Portugal's top flight, the winner in a 2–1 home win over

. On 31 August 2018, Gauld joined LigaPro side Farense on a season-long loan. The loan to Farense was curtailed in January 2019 and he was then loaned to

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

club Hibernian. Gauld suffered a hamstring injury and consequently only collected 371 minutes of game time from six first team games in his half season loan at Hibernian.

Farense

Gauld left Sporting to rejoin Farense on a permanent basis in July 2019, signing a two-year contract with an option for a third year and a €4 million release clause. On 29 February 2020, he scored his first career hat-trick in a 3–1 win over Académico de Viseu to put his team top of the second division; this concluded a run of six goals from seven games. Farense were granted promotion to the first division following the stoppage of the Portuguese second tier due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. Gauld finished the season as the team's top scorer and was voted as the top player in the Portuguese second tier.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

On 31 July 2021, Gauld signed with

side Vancouver Whitecaps FC on a three-and-a-half-year deal. He scored his first goal for the Whitecaps on 21 August 2021 against Los Angeles FC, an 89th-minute winner. In July 2022, he helped the Whitecaps win the

and was awarded the

George Gross Memorial Trophy The George Gross Memorial Trophy is awarded to the most valuable player of the Canadian Championship. It is named after George Gross, a highly respected sports journalist who covered soccer for the '' Toronto Telegram'' and ''Toronto Sun''. The ...

as the tournament's MVP.

International career

Gauld was capped 10 times for Scotland at under-19 level, scoring two goals. He made his debut on 9 October 2012 against

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...

, replacing

Matty Kennedy Matthew Kennedy (born 1 November 1994) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Scottish Premiership club Aberdeen. Having represented Scotland at youth international level, he has represented Northern Ireland at s ...

after 66 minutes of an eventual 4–0 win in a European qualifier at New Douglas Park in Hamilton. He scored his first goal on his fourth cap on 3 September 2013, against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

at the Forthbank Stadium in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, a 20-yard free kick to equalise in a 1–1 draw. Gauld scored two goals in 11 appearances for the under-21 team. On 6 November 2013, he was called into the under-21 squad for the first time, for the match against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

later that month. He scored his first goals for the under-21 team on his third cap on 8 September 2014, a brace in a 3–0 win away to

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

at the Stade Municipal de Differdange, at the end of a failed European qualification campaign. On 30 September 2014, Gauld was called up to the senior

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the t ...

for Euro 2016 Group D qualifying matches against

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

, but did not play. On 10 October 2015, Gauld was sent off for a foul on

Marcus Coco Marcus Regis Coco (born 24 June 1996) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Nantes. Club career Coco is a youth exponent from EA Guingamp. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 1 February 2015 against Girondins ...

in a 2–1

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Poland in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship tournamen ...

loss to France at Pittodrie in his hometown.

Style of play

Gauld's ability on the ball, and his small and slight stature, led him to be compared to

, a comparison made by the British press since 2013. At Dundee United, he was tutored by Ian Cathro, who favoured creativity and passing over the physicality often expected in Scottish football. After his transfer to Sporting,

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside ...

columnist Richard Wilson predicted that Gauld would be better suited to the style of football in Portugal, due to its slower tempo and its concentration on a passing game. Gauld himself has spoken of his preference for Portuguese football over its Scottish equivalent, and expressed relief at the lower media interest in him at Sporting, opining that comparisons with Messi were exaggerated and premature.

Career statistics

Honours

Aves * Taça de Portugal: 2017–18 Vancouver Whitecaps *

: 2022 Individual *

: 2022

References

External links

* *
Generation Next profile
at Just Football {{DEFAULTSORT:Gauld, Ryan Living people Scottish footballers 1995 births People educated at Mearns Academy Footballers from Aberdeenshire Association football midfielders Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Dundee United F.C. players Scotland youth international footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Scottish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer players in Canada Sporting CP footballers Sporting CP B players Vitória F.C. players C.D. Aves players S.C. Farense players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Hibernian F.C. players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Designated Players (MLS) Major League Soccer players