RICARDO QUARESMA speaks with a voice of some experience when discussing the situation Ryan Gauld finds himself in at Sporting Lisbon.
Now at FC Porto for a second spell, the 31-year-old, a gifted attacker renowned for his own tricks and flicks, cut his teeth at Sporting as a highly-rated teenage contemporary of Cristiano Ronaldo and was made to bear a considerable weight of expectation at a tender age.
It was a period that served as a perfect springboard for him to forge a career that has taken in spells at some of the more illustrious clubs in world football such as Barcelona, Internazionale and Chelsea and earn a respectable 38 caps for Portugal.
Quaresma knows of the rich benefits that Gauld will receive from working within Sporting's much-lauded coaching system. He also has an understanding of the frustrations that come from being asked continually to cool your heels in the reserves when you feel you may have done enough to deserve greater opportunities at first-team level.
Experience, after all, has caused him to admit that he was a victim of his own impatience when questioning his head coach, Frank Rijkaard, at Camp Nou and criticising the Dutchman's decision to leave him on the bench during his solitary campaign there. He was 20, broadly the same age as Gauld, and just wanted too much too quickly.
Gauld, having played in his club's previous league victory over Gil Vicente, had hoped to face Quaresma in Sporting's biggest match of the season on Sunday evening, a 3-0 loss away to Porto that has effectively destroyed any hopes they had of competing for this season's Primeira Liga. Instead, he was returned to the 'B' squad to play out a goalless draw in front of less than 1000 spectators against the unheralded SC Freamunde in the Segunda Liga.
The 19-year-old Scot gives no impression that he is unhappy with the progress he is making six months on from signing in a £3m deal that delivered a six-year contract with a 60m buy-out clause.
Quaresma believes it is a wise approach. He warns Gauld that the road ahead will not be easy, but sees Portuguese football as an ideal arena for him to continue his development thanks to its technical qualities, improving standards and willingness to give younger talent the breathing space to flourish.
As Quaresma, himself, proves, it has served as a conveyor belt of talent for Europe's bigger leagues in recent years and is a wonderful platform on which to show yourself.
"I have not watched much of Ryan so far, but it is something I could certainly start doing," said Quaresma.
"The Portuguese League is certainly a good place for him to learn the game and develop.
"Our championship is good for all young players with talent to start being seen and start appearing at first-team level.The opportunities are there. It is certainly not as easy as people think, though. You have to give time to those young players and invest a lot of hope and confidence in them.
"The Portuguese league has certainly improved in recent years. I think the standard has been getting better for some time now. They have worked hard here to make sure that can happen and I hope that, some day, people will regard our championship as one of the best in Europe.
"Our team at Porto, for example, is very young, but there is real quality within it and players capable of doing a good job. All the players who wear our shirt are given the chance to show their talents and their value."
Certainly, those present at Porto's resounding win over a deeply disappointing Sporting could not fail to be impressed by some of the players on show. Cristian Tello commandeered the headlines thanks to an expertly-converted hat-trick, but it could be argued that Jackson Martinez, who set up two of those goals, was the man of the match.
The 28-year-old Colombian is in his third season at Porto. The backheeled pass he provided for Tello's first goal, after chesting the ball down with his back to the opposing goal, has already become a favoured item on the internet.
Arsenal are known to have been monitoring him for some time with Manchester United and Chelsea also rumoured to be taking a look.
Quaresma has no doubts whatsoever that Martinez has the ability to become a success in British football and has branded him one of the best strikers in the world at this moment in time.
"To us, the people who play with him, this is not new," he said. "Jackson is a star. He is at the level of being one of the best strikers in the world. We are not at all surprised by the things that he can do.
"We train with him every day and we know all about his talent and his technical ability. It is a pleasure to play with a player like that. Like I have said, Jackson has the ability to play at any club in the world in any championship. He is the man who will decide his own future, but he deserves to have the world's top clubs looking at him."
*BT Sport shows multiple live games from Portugal's Primeira Liga every week as part of a European football line-up including UEFA Europa League, Germany's Bundesliga, France's Ligue 1 and Italy's Serie A.
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