Rangers talents Kai Kennedy and James Maxwell may be used in deal for Cameron Cooper
Partick Thistle want to take Rangers talents Kai Kennedy and James Maxwell on loan next season according to the Daily Record.
With the Gers currently working on a compensation deal to bring Scotland under-17 striker Cameron Cooper in the opposite direction, the pair may be included as makeweights.
Ian McCall believes they will help his side gain promotion from the Championship where they will both be very familiar.
Forward Kennedy, 20, has been on loan already at Inverness, Raith Rovers, Dunfermline and Hamilton over the past two years, scoring once for each club, while left-back Maxwell, also 20, has been at Queen of the South and Ayre United for the past two seasons respectively, making a combined 60 appearances in the second tier.
Cooper, 16, is part of a drive by the Light Blues to stock up their age-group sides with top youngsters for the future.
Everyone’s a winner
This seems like a way for all parties to get what they want, and the Bears don’t really have to make any concessions.
It is unlikely that either Kennedy or Maxwell are set to be major contributors in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s first team next season, and could well have been out on loan again without this link to the Jags.
If the Championship side can get something in return for losing a highly-rated talent, and therefore compensation negotiations can run smoother, than all the better.
More opportunities in first-team football for the current Ibrox pair should be a boost in their long-term prospects with the club, especially if they can help fire McCall’s men to the Premiership.
The focus on bringing in youngsters is a sensible move, as Aberdeen’s Lancelot Pollard is to join, and Millwall’s Zak Lovelace is another target.
To get any benefit from the system however they will need to find a way to keep hold of them if the English Premier League comes calling, as Rory Wilson’s decision to leave echos that of Billy Gilmour in recent years.
It is a sign of the club’s place in the football food chain but the whole system would be far more beneficial if they could contribute at Ibrox first.
In other Rangers news, a Gers transfer target is available at a “bargain price” after his club agreed to let him leave.