Leon King now given green light to end Rangers nightmare as transfer exit news emerges in last 24 hours
Rangers defender Leon King has become a miserable afterthought at Ibrox but has now been given the chance to end his first-team nightmare.
Scottish news outlet Daily Record reported on Thursday (7 December) that manager Philippe Clement is ready to sanction a loan move for the Ibrox academy graduate in January.
The Gers boss knows the 19-year-old is highly rated within the walls at the club, but he can’t guarantee him regular minutes in the first team at Ibrox.
It added that the Belgian will look at “suitable options” for the Scotland U-21 international, who has been left out of the Light Blues squad recently.
Academy product Leon King barely featured under Michael Beale’s stewardship and has been regularly resigned to filling up the bench numbers under Clement ever since he was thrust into the deep end of Champions League action in the first half of last season, under Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
The 19-year-old has had injuries to contend with, but zero minutes of football in the 2023/24 means King has been stuck in something of an Ibrox purgatory and certainly won’t see the talented sensation reach his undoubted potential.
The Athletic claimed (31 January) that the Light Blues had knocked back “attractive” loan proposals for the defender, and that decision has looked incredibly baffling ever since.
This year, the club have handed rare starts for the likes of Rabbi Matondo, Ianis Hagi and even Robby McCrorie, but such a chance strangely hasn’t been provided for King who as stated, is one of their best academy products over a number of years.
King has seen his development stall massively. He was playing regularly in the Champions League during the first part of the campaign. Quite why Rangers decided to turn down the chance to send him out on loan remains to be seen.
There is also no point in him staying at Ibrox if he isn’t even making the bench as Connor Goldson, Leon Balogun, John Souttar and Ben Davies are all currently ahead of him in the pecking order.
Rangers must identify a club well suited to his game, handing him the tools to enhance his development and maturity in order for him to get his young career back on track.
A loan to a club in the Sky Bet Championship in England would be incredibly ideal for him.
While a permanent move may be out of the question, the 19-year-old just needs a new lease of life elsewhere because this past year has been an unfortunate nightmare, and it may well now be coming to a grateful end with this latest development.
In other Rangers news, a BBC pundit has urged the Gers to sign a player who “terrifies” defenders.