HENRIK Larsson and Brian Laudrup may have lit up the Scottish game like no others in the modern era, but few typify the freedom of movement for players the EU brings than a journeyman who plied his trade for Hamilton Accies, Hearts and St Mirren.

Winger Jose Quitongo arrived in Scotland via Portugal, Sweden and the Irish Republic just out of his teens in the mid-1990s and more than two decades on still lives in the Lanarkshire town where he found his first Scots club.

And his legacy may be more than the cult status he still enjoys among fans of Scottish football.

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Shortly after his arrival he became a father to a son.

Jai Quitongo, a winger like his father, is now pivotal to Greenock Morton’s most successful spell in years and a key member of Scotland’s under-21 squad.

Born in war-torn Angola, Jose Quitongo joined Benfica’s academy aged just 10, Portugal having deep colonial links with his home country.

Seven years later, and despite team-mates including later legends Rui Costa and Nuno Gomes, he failed to break into the Lisbon giant’s squad, a broken leg hampering his progress.

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But his time in Portugal, often seen as a backdoor to Europe for Africans and Brazilians, did give him an EU passport and an opportunity to further his career in more modest settings.

Mr Quitongo, 42, said: “I’d been at the Benfica academy since I was a boy. I ate and slept at that stadium. I grew up there.

“Because I’d been in Portugal for more than five years I was able to get national status.

“I’d broken my leg but after that it was an easy decision as I had the passport and could travel.

“I just looked at it as a challenge, new places I could go to and play.

“A friend had gone to play in Birmingham so I followed him.

“I’d never any issues with visas or immigration.

“The cold was the biggest thing I was told would be a problem and even that didn’t bother me.

“After Jai was born I still needed to travel for the money to raise a family but Scotland was my home from the start, people treated me very well and it is an amazing country.”

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So what does he think about the possibility that Brexit may mean others are denied the same opportunities as him?

Indeed, it could even restrict his own son’s progress should Ajax, Juventus, or Madrid ever come calling. He said: “I am hearing of these problems for the first time and don’t understand why anyone would think these restrictions are a good thing.

“All the 18 and 19-year-olds on the continent want to come to England and some will have thought about Scotland. This will make it so much more difficult.

“We don’t have much of a culture of our players going abroad.

“Apart from John Collins in France, Paul Lambert in Germany and Ryan Gauld in Portugal it is difficult to think of many.

“But they should have the opportunity.

“But being able to move, to play, to experience different clubs in different countries has been fantastic and it’s sad others may be denied this.

“Why do we want to go down this road?

“It really is a shame.

“Jai? Well, I can’t complain.

“He’s doing very well at the moment, both for Morton and his country. I’ve been here all these years so it makes me very proud.”