Joe Ellis

Fri 3 June 2022 10:40, UK

The Rangers academy is one of the very best in the entire country and we have seen an increase in first-team graduates over the last 12 months.

Alex Lowry and Leon King are the two young Scots to have most recently played a fair amount for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side and there is a long line of teenagers who will want to be the next into the fold.

Scotland Under-21 manager Scot Gemmill wants to see the Dutchman, and other managers with young Scottish players in the squad, utilise their youngsters more to help them realise their potential.

“Nobody knows more than me that there are talented young players,” Gemmill said, as quoted by the Daily Record. “What I’d stress is it has to be seen at club level too. The young players have to be given an opportunity to play.

“That is a crucial bit in the development that we all need to see. “It needs to be more. You need more young players playing earlier but it’s easy for me to say that when I’m not managing a club side.

“I’ve got a different objective but you benchmark yourself against the best young players in Europe. They are playing and we need our players to play too.”

Unsurprisingly, Gemmill is absolutely right in wanting his young stars to get the game time they deserve and require and there is no reason why Lowry in particular can’t get that at Ibrox.

He has already shone on every occasion he has played for the senior Rangers side, whether it be from the start or off the bench, and with a midfield slot alongside John Lundstram likely up for grabs, he has to be the name to be written in there.

It’s a little tougher for King with Connor Goldson’s new contract, the arrival of John Souttar and the epic form of Calvin Bassey which is why he could do with a loan away from the club in order to gain that crucial senior experience.

In other Rangers news, the club are prepared to part ways with £40,000 just to get the B team, which Lowry and King have featured in, to play in the Lowland League again next season.