As this season has already shown us, there are many paths to a place in the Dons’ first team and a day in the sun – or the rain and the wind and the snow – at Pittodrie.

Some come straight from the youth set up and into the first team, in the way that Calvin Ramsay has where others, such as Connor Barron and Jack MacKenzie, get games under their belt on loan before coming back home to cement a first team place.

The last route is the path that 18-year-old Ryan Duncan has started to follow this season after a brief debut in the first team last term. The winger, who was named the AFC Development Player of the Year last week, has been with the Youth Academy since the age of nine and has scored nine goals in the Club Academy Scotland U18 League this season and also has three assists to his name.

A Scotland U17 international, Ryan has been a stand-out for Barry Robson’s side and also impressed in the remarkable SPFL Trust Trophy victories over Brora Rangers and Arbroath at Pittodrie.

But he’s also been away on loan this term, impressing plenty of good judges with his displays for Peterhead, where he has contributed three goals in 17 games in his first prolonged spell at the sharp end of senior football as well as a number of assists.

After an injury hampered him during the first half of the season, he made his comeback in December and scored his first senior goal against East Fife.

“It was nice to have managed to get a few goals whist on loan! Hopefully I can add to my overall tally in these final few U18s games this season.

“The loan spell has been really good, I really enjoyed my time at Peterhead. I think it has been the best thing for me, to go out and get games at a good level. I have really enjoyed it and I have got some good game time as well.

“The 18s games at the start of the season really helped a lot to get my fitness back up to a level that it needed to be at. I think a lot of young players felt that because although we have all done our best in terms of training and keeping fit, we hadn’t played much football for the past two years or so because of the Covid shutdown, and you can’t duplicate the fitness you get from playing games. But once I was back fit again and playing regularly for the 18s, I felt getting out on loan was the right thing to do at this stage of my development. I did not have to be persuaded at all, because it was what I wanted to do.

“Peterhead has been the ideal club for me. The team train in Dundee and there are five or six at a time who are travelling down together. That has been good as well, because when we are travelling to get to spend time with each other and you get to know your team mates quite well. That has been a big help to me, as I just came in halfway through the season.

“I did not get off to the best of starts, I must admit! It was very frustrating. It was my first training session with my new team mates and we were doing some speed work and I managed to injure my hip flexor. I felt it at the time but carried on for the rest of the session, which turned out to be a big mistake.

“The next morning I woke up and could hardly move. Even then I didn’t think it was anything too serious but I landed up being out for eight weeks which was a massive disappointment. It meant I was not really back with them full fit till after the new year, which was not good. Because it was my first training session there, I wanted to impress the gaffer and kept on going but I learnt an important lesson from that.

“Once I did get fit again, I have pretty much played every game since, or at least played a part in it. I’ve started most of the games and there have been a few where I have come off the bench for different reasons. It has been great to get as much game time as I have.

“I’ve played predominantly on the right wing, which is my preferred position. I’ve also played a couple of time in behind the striker in an attacking midfield role. I like to play out wide because I feel that is where you get the best out of me. It gets very crowded in the middle, whereas I prefer getting isolated with the opposing full-back.”

The success of Calvin Ramsay in making the leap straight from youth football to the first team inevitably has people wondering who else can bridge that gap so quickly, but as Ryan says, few youngsters are able to follow that path so easily.

“Calvin is an exception really because of the talent he has got. It is very rare that you can jump straight into the first team from the U18s. I think going out on loan is a very good way. It might not be Premiership level, but the football is still a very good standard in the lower leagues. It really does help you a lot to get used to men’s football.

“The main challenge has been physically. Technically, I can cope fine at that level, but physically it has tested me. The game is very fast paced and most of the opponents I come up against are older and bigger than me. You have to get used to that and learn how to use your body better.

“Growing up and coming through the Academy, even when I was playing up a level, I was still bigger than most of the boys I was playing against, so I did not have to use my body that much. I wanted to beat players because of my skills and not my strength.

“Now I know that I need to have an improved upper body strength to be able to handle that level of physical threat. That is something I am working on. The sport science guys at Aberdeen have got a gym programme that I am working on to get me a bit bigger and that will help me a lot going forward.

“It is a lot of little things that do count. You have to get used to it very quickly or you would not last long! I feel I have adjusted quickly. It took slightly longer than I would have liked because I did not have my match fitness to start with because I was coming back from injury. But once I was back to full fitness, I then felt I was able to make the adjustment.”

It isn’t merely getting game time that counts, but the chance to play in big games where the result really does impact on the club’s fortunes.

“The Scottish Cup game against Dundee would have been the biggest game I have played in. There was a big crowd and the match was on TV.

It was a great experience! I get nervous before most games, so it was not any different in that sense and once I was on the pitch, I really enjoyed the occasion.

“I was playing against Niall McGinn, and we spoke after the game. Being a winger, he is someone I have really looked up to as an Aberdeen fan growing up and then being around him when I was involved with the first team. I was thinking about asking him for his shirt, but did not have the courage!”

Keeping in contact with Aberdeen is vitally important for young players on loan – it certainly is not a case of out of sight, out of mind here.

“I have spoken regularly with the pathways manager Neil Simpson, so I know that I will report back for pre-season training with the first team squad and then we will see what happens after that. I will be doing my pre-season with them.

“I played my final game for Peterhead last Saturday against Airdrie and since then I will still be training at Cormack Park with the first team until the season is done. We then get a break for three or four weeks. I might take a few days off at the start, but I will keep going so I can keep as fit as I can. It is a massive pre-season coming up to try and prove to the manager that I can be part of his squad for the 2022/23 season.

“Nothing is guaranteed. I have to keep working hard every day until the campaign is finished and then make sure I came back flying in June when we return. We will see what happens after that.”