Kieran Freeman has seen the bright lights of a Premier League club – but feels he is thriving more away from them.
The young defender is revelling in a loan spell at Peterhead under Jim McInally, a favourite at Freeman’s parent club Dundee United.
The nitty-gritty of Scottish League One is a far cry from St Mary’s and Southampton, where Freeman spent three-and-a-half injury-hit years after leaving United initially at the age of 16.
He managed three appearances in the Championship in early-2020 after rejoining United but since signing for the Blue Toon, he has not missed a minute of League One action.
Freeman said: “It’s all very well playing well academy football but you don’t get these sort of tests, training every day. I wanted to come out and play 90 minutes week and I’m doing that, thanks to the manager. I’m loving every minute of it.
“I’ve come from one end of the UK to the other. That taught me well in certain aspects, this is teaching me well in others.”
The 20-year-old joined Peterhead in the summer in the search for regular game-time, having returned to his first club at the start of the year.
He is part of group of United loanees who train together during the week – away from the first-team – before dispersing to their relevant clubs.
Three other Arabs’ youngsters are also playing in League One, with Ross Graham at Cove Rangers, Chris Mochrie at Montrose and Florent Hoti at Forfar Athletic.
Freeman added: “We have a loan group – usually you would be training with the first-team but the loan group have a bubble. There’s a group of ten that train through the week and then train with Peterhead on Tuesday.
“Chris Mochrie got a win, which is good, but I saw Ross (Graham) didn’t. Ross is normally the one dishing out the banter because he’s at the top of the league, but things might change now us and Montrose are creeping up. We just want to get as high as possible – as long as we keep churning out performances like that, I’m sure it’s possible.
“Ultimately I want to improve on aspects to get into Dundee United’s first-team, but also to get Peterhead up the table.”
Freeman played Saturday afternoon in midfield and excelled, allowing Scott Brown to get forward and support Steven Boyd in attack.
He added: “That was the first time in a few years – since I’ve been playing academy football. It’s about the fifth or sixth different position I’ve played here but I enjoyed it.
“Right-back is my natural position but I enjoy playing anywhere. If you win it’s even better.”
