Hibs star Josh Doig nominated for SFWA Young Player of the Year award

Josh Doig has been nominated for the Scottish Football Writer’s Association Young Player of the Year award.

Josh Doig recently signed a new deal until 2025. Picture: SNS

The Hibs star joins Celtic ace David Turnbull, Rangers right-back Nathan Patterson and Aberdeen midfielder Lewis Ferguson among the contenders for this year’s crown.

At 18, Doig is the youngest on the shortlist but should feel confident of his chances after becoming the starting left-back at Easter Road this season, replacing club legend Lewis Stevenson and earning a new long-term contract until 2025.

A Hibs player has won the award on four occasions, though the last of which was Steven Fletcher back in 2009. The Scotland striker won the award two years in succession after Derek Riordan (2005) and Scott Brown (2007) had also picked up the gong.

Doig faces strong competition for the award, the winner of which will be announced before the end of the season.

Patterson, 19, has impressed for Rangers when standing in for James Tavernier and is now being tipped for a place in the Scotland squad for this summer’s Euro 2020 finals.

Turnbull, who won the Young Player of the Year award two years ago when he was still with Motherwell, has scored eight goals in 32 appearances for Celtic and is another who is pushing for a call-up to Scotland manager Steve Clarke’s squad.

Ferguson, 21, is Aberdeen’s top scorer so far this season with nine goals in 33 appearances. He is bidding to become the first player to win the Young Player of the Year award in consecutive seasons since former Celtic star Kieran Tierney who claimed it three years in a row from 2016 to 2018.

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