Connor McLennan laughed when he was labelled the Buchan Bale this week.
The Aberdeen winger – who scored a double for Scotland Under-21 s in Croatia – is delighted to be compared to the Welsh Galactico but knows he has a long way to go before he hits the heights of Gareth Bale .
McLennan will settle for becoming the Real deal at Aberdeen and helping the Dons to maintain their unbeaten domestic run when St Johnstone drop in.
The 19-year-old said: “The plan is to become a first-team regular again and that is what I am looking to do now.
“These Under-21 games were good and hopefully I can kick on from here.
“I missed a pre-season with a wee injury. I had a tidy-up in my knee and then it was about trying to get as much fitness as I could when I was away. Hopefully, that will be me.”
The youngster knows he has to impress Derek McInnes because he has options aplenty out wide. Ryan Hedges and Niall McGinn have been given the nod but Jon Gallagher and James Wilson can also play there and that’s despite Scott Wright’s season-ending cruciate injury.
McLennan said: “It is a blow for Scott. It’s not good for him but we have plenty of other players in that position who can cause St Johnstone and other teams problems.
“The gaffer has loads of options and one injury won’t cause us too many problems.
“We have quality all over the pitch that can fill in anywhere. Any of the front or wide players can fill in wide or in the middle. Hopefully, we can get more consistent over the course of the season.”
Aberdeen moved back into the top four with their win against Ross County before the international break.
McLennan said: “This season we’ve excelled at home and we are looking to make it a fortress again.”
The Dons will look to keep pushing when an old familiar face in Stevie May comes calling.
McLennan is in no doubt the striker will score goals because he has the quality although it never quite came to fruition at Pittodrie.
His former team-mate said: “It will be good to see him again because he was a great guy in our dressing room.
“You can see his quality and I hope it works out for him. I don’t know why he wasn’t scoring here every week but hopefully he
can start doing that at St Johnstone.
“He was great to play with, works his socks off, is so unselfish and does the work of two players.
“He helped me with that goal at Ibrox and I hope it works out for him.
“Maybe he was too unselfish. At times you want your striker to be quite selfish. There was a period when he played every week last season and that helped us massively.
“We’ll see if he is playing but we know his quality and we will need to stop him and the other 10 quality players they will have on the pitch.”
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