Rangers ace Connor Barron out of Scotland U21s squad as full injury details shared

Connor Barron has not travelled with the Scotland Under-21s side to face Kazakhstan after the Rangers star picked up a "slight knock", according to the Daily Record.

The news outlet reported on its online edition on Monday (14 October) that Barron is one of five players out of the squad travelling to Almaty for the U21s' second friendly match of the international break as a precaution.

Philippe Clement had rested Barron in the Gers' last league match against St Johnstone, while the midfielder's Ibrox team-mate Leon King is another of that quintet to have withdrawn from the squad.

Rangers panic stations after Connor Barron injury news

None of the Gers' 11 summer signings have been as integral in Clement's new-look side as Barron, who has started all but two of their 13 matches so far as a pillar of the Ibrox midfield.

Mohamed Diomande, Dujon Sterling and Nico Raskin have all been tried in the double-pivot of Clement's 4-2-3-1 formation, but each and every one of them has been next to Barron so far this season.

A summer of change and a huge squad overhaul didn't solve all of the Light Blues' problems in midfield, with Clement still lacking an out-and-out defensive midfielder to orchestrate the play.

Despite only arriving on a free transfer from Aberdeen this summer, that responsibility has fallen on Barron's shoulders, and there are few other clear options for Clement to utilise in a similar role.

Clement will have every digit crossed for Barron to be fit and firing ahead of the Gers' first game after the break, against Kilmarnock. If not, the Belgian has plenty of thinking to do.

In other Rangers news, another Ibrox star was praised by the national media after what he did for his country's senior team.

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