John Hughes: Stephen Kelly is a manager's dream

John Hughes has waxed lyrical of Rangers midfielder Stephen Kelly after Steven Gerrard decided not to loan him out for this summer.

The 21-year-old worked closely with Hughes, who was the Ross County boss last season.

He wasn't surprised by Gerrard's decision and believes that the Scotland U-21 international can come of some use throughout the course of the campaign.

In his column for the Scottish Daily Mail on Sunday, Hughes, who's also a BBC Scotland pundit, wrote, "I'm sure Steven Gerrard will say to him: 'Come on then, let's see what you've got'.

"And he's a manager's dream. His mentality is unbelievable. He just wants it so much."

Interesting move

We were intrigued when the club decided that they'd rather keep him on at the Ibrox instead of loaning him out for another year.

Usually, players at that age benefit from regular first-team football if they're not guaranteed playing time at their parent club.

As Hughes has worked with him for a year, he surely knows what he's talking about and we can't wait to see Kelly thrive at the heart of Rangers' midfield.

Steven Davis isn't getting any younger and Ryan Jack's constant injury niggles mean that the Gers need as many options as they can get in the middle of the park.

Kelly may not be thrown into the playing eleven immediately after the international break, but we're expecting him to get minutes off the bench in the coming weeks and months.

He could also feature for the B team and should he impress Gerrard, we could very well see him on the matchday squads in the league very soon.

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