Three Youth Players to Watch: Scottish Premiership

In the final installment of ‘Young Players to Watch’, Callum Gibson looks at the young stars in the Premiership that you should be keeping an eye on…

Ross Tierney – Motherwell, 21

Tierney started his senior playing career at League of Ireland side Bohemian. During his 3 year stint at the club Tierney picked up 50 appearances and scoring 9 goals along the way. Tierney has a small frame however his pace and agility alongside his fantastic technical ability more than makes up for that. This is why in January 2021 Motherwell signed the midfielder for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut in Scottish cup against Greenock Morton and a month later he scored a last minute equaliser away to St Mirren. He then scored his second goal for the club as Motherwell lost 3-1 at home to Rangers. None the less the majority of his 14 appearances came of the bench for the steelman and on many occasions was struggling to make an impact. However, with new well boss Steven Hammell coming in the door, he made it clear that integrating the youth players would be focal point to the way he would run things. Therefore, it could be a real breakthrough season for the Motherwell man if he can pick up regular starts.

Leighton Clarkson – Aberdeen, 20

Clarkson made his professional debut for Liverpool in December 2019. He was then awarded a long term contract with the footballing giants in July 2020. Just over a year later Clarkson was loaned out to English championship side Blackburn rovers, However Clarkson only picked up 7 appearances for the championship outfit therefore the loan was cut short. In the summer of 2022 Aberdeen signed the youngster on a season long loan. He made an instant impact scoring a spectacular freekick against St Mirren to help his side with 4-1 on the second game of the season. The midfielder also scored the decisive goal against St Johnstone as Aberdeen took their second league win in 4 games. The Dons have started their new campaign successfully currently sitting third in the league after 5 games. If Clarkson can keep up this good form, it would only help Aberdeen get back into those European places.

Alex Lowry- Rangers, 19

Lowry is a product of the rangers’ academy having been with the club since he was 10 years old. In January 2021 he made his debut for Rangers coming off the bench against Stirling Albion in the Scottish cup. The next match for Rangers was against Livingston where Lowry started and played the whole match. He then picked up three more league appearances that season. In May 2022 Lowry was also selected in the Scotland under 21s squad. During his time at Rangers Lowry has also found himself playing in the lowland league for Rangers B team where he picked up goal of the season, with a fantastic strike against Celtic B. However, Lowry picked up a serious injury against Dumbarton. This will leave the young midfielder side-lined for 4-6 weeks. None the less when Lowry is back fighting fit, it will only be a matter of time before we see him back again for the Rangers first team.