Connor Barron’s chief consideration in deciding his Aberdeen future will be securing the minutes to take him to the highest level, according to departed Dons youth chief Gavin Levey.
Academy graduate Barron, 21, is out of contract with Aberdeen at the end of the season.
After earlier talks on a new deal went quiet, Dons boss Barry Robson confirmed before the international break dialogue had restarted on tying the emerging central midfielder to Pittodrie for the long-term.
Barron has shown fresh promise in the opening months of the campaign, and after a 2022/23 season disrupted by knee and pelvic injuries.
The Kintore-native had been hot property in the summer of 2022 after breaking into the Aberdeen first-team in January of that year, and was on English Premier League Brentford’s radar.
Ex-Aberdeen Youth Academy director Levey has watched “top talent” Barron’s development from under-8s level.
He reckons the ambitious young middle man – who he says “totally backs” his own footballing abilities – will prioritise gaining match experience to set him up for playing at “the highest possible level” above everything else when it comes to working out his future.
Levey said: “He’s got his advisors, and I’m sure they’ll look after him, and he’ll have had his conversations with (Dons director of football) Steven Gunn and Barry as well as to where his future lies.
“He will want to test himself at the highest possible level, but to get the highest possible level, similar to (youth academy graduate right-back) Calvin (Ramsay, now of Liverpool), you’ve got to have that pathway to accumulate matches.
“He’s going to want to be playing and to get that experience which sets you up for the highest level.
“I’m sure he’s had a lot of thought around that.”
For Levey – who has himself left the Dons to head up Swansea City’s development department – it would be the best-case scenario if Barron can win the game-time he needs to fulfil his undeniable potential at Aberdeen first before any future move,
“I would love to see him at Aberdeen, of course,” Levey said, “because you want academy players to come through and play a heap of games until they become too good that you can’t afford to keep them anymore.”
Barron has played nine times for his former under-18s manager Robson’s Aberdeen first-team this season, starting two of the Reds’ past three Premiership games: the 4-0 win at home to Ross County – where he was singled out for praise by his gaffer – and then the 0-0 draw with St Johnstone prior to the recently-concluded break.
He has also come off the bench in the two Europa Conference League group games so far: the loss against Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany and the 1-1 draw with HJK Helsinki at Pittodrie.
‘Desire to compete’ pinpointed as defining Barron quality
Levey says Barron showed the qualities needed to carve out a big future in the game from his earliest moments in Aberdeen’s youth development system.
The former head of the Dons’ youth arm pinpointed, first and foremost, the small youngster’s “desire to compete” despite his stature.
Levey said: “Throughout the academy, Connor was the smallest player at his age group, but we didn’t hold him back.
“He played in a year above himself for five years running – so he was playing with the likes of Dean Campbell, Terry Taylor, Archie Mair… even though he was born in 2002. We stretched his development.
“When the year came for him to move back to his own age group at under-16s – when all the (older) boys are trying to win contracts – he was incredibly frustrated around that time because he felt he should still have been playing at that level.”
Ex-Aberdeen youth coach Levey added: “He was playing against boys who probably matured early, (who were) six foot (tall), and he’s just getting his shoulder and his head right in about them and competing.”
Levey revealed Barron has also been “two-footed since he started our homework programme at eight years old” – and has always had a relentless desire to practise and hone his skills.
He explained how the Dons youth coaches helped the diminutive youngster build his midfield game to suit his lack of height, helping turn him into a player who excited and challenged the Aberdeen staff in equal measure in the days when the academy were still based at Balgownie playing fields.
Levey said: “I heard so many people say: ‘Ach, he’ll be too small for this game’, but it’s absolute nonsense.
“At the time people were saying that, we were witnessing the best team in the world, which was Barcelona, one of the greatest ever (sides), with players who were all of a smaller stature and absolutely dominating.
“We knew the predicted height we were going to get – you know he’s not going to be a six-foot central midfielder.
“So what attributes has he got? Well he’s two-footed, his game awareness is very strong, he has great desire.
“So you’re ticking boxes that are going to be so important to play at the highest level. And you just keep giving him things to think about.
“He lapped it up.”
‘He just keeps going… He has a really bright future’
Whether Barron’s next career step is at Aberdeen or elsewhere after this season, Levey – knowing the midfielder as he does – is convinced a “really bright future” in football lies ahead for him.
Levey said: “He just keeps going – you look at how well he’s doing with Scotland under-21s and when he’s stepping back into the first-team.
“The way he thinks about the game, how confident he is in his ability – he is one who has a really bright future.”
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