Scotland goal hero Lawrence Shankland has opened up on the reasons behind his failed spell at Aberdeen - and admitted his big move came too soon.
Shankland was a fresh-faced 17-year-old when he was plucked from Queen's Park by Derek McInnes in the summer of 2014.
After posting note of his goalscoring promise with the Spiders in the lower reaches of Scottish football, the teenager was eager to take his form onto the big stage at Pittodrie.
But it never worked out for the Glaswegian. In four years in the north east he made just 17 top team appearances without netting once.
Loan spells at Dunfermline, St Mirren and Morton followed before he was allowed to leave the Dons in 2017.
As painful as that decision was for the young Shankland, the frontman admits it proved a key turning point in his career to the point he made his first start for his country, scoring against San Marino, on Sunday.
“I was a young boy at Aberdeen and probably wasn’t really ready for that level at the time," he said.
“It happens. Sometimes you take a step maybe too far than you should have.
“I went away, worked hard and it’s got me here.
"Fingers crossed, it keeps going like that.”
Shankland told MailSport last year how he found himself going to a sports shop to buy two footballs to play HIMSELF on a school pitch in Baillieston after his release from Aberdeen.
That was the point the penny dropped for the then-22-year-old.
Ian McCall handed him a chance to re-establish himself at Ayr United and the rest, as they say, is history.
Sixty-two goals in 73 games for Ayr over the next two seasons won him a move to Dundee United where he currently leads the Championship scoring charts. He's scored 15 goals in 13 games for United this season and has now notched in his first start for his country.
“It’s a bit of a dream, to be honest. (John) McGinn said that to me before the game: ‘If two weeks ago somebody had said you’d be number nine for Scotland, you wouldn’t have believed them, would you?’
“He was probably right.
“I just had to enjoy it. I knew the kind of game it would be, with a lot of the ball. I just needed to be in and around the box and enjoy the night.”
