Falkirk manager Ray McKinnon has tipped Rangers loanee Zak Rudden to make his breakthrough at Ibrox in 2019 after impressing on loan to the Championship side.
The 18-year-old was shipped out to the second tier outfit on a six month loan deal until January and has gone on to score seven goals in 11 games across all competitions.
Yet to feature for the Light Blues’ first team in Glasgow, McKinnon admitted he would love to see Rudden remain at the club for the rest of the season but tipped the youngster to take the step up at Ibrox if he does not remain on loan.
He told the Daily Record’s live blog (07/12, 08:32): “We would like to hold onto Zak but Rangers might be keen to take him back there for a bit. He’s scored goals and we’ve given him a really good platform. He’s learning all the time and he’s maturing.”
Opinion
As an 18-year-old young Rudden is certainly showing that he knows where the back of the net is but is he really going to be given a chance in the senior side under Steven Gerrard? The silver lining for the youngster is that there are a distinct lack of options available to the manager behind Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty, with Umar Sadiq having failed to make the desired impact on loan from Roma. Gerrard has shown that he is not afraid to give a chance to young players in the first team and if Rudden has shown enough on loan then he could well be given a chance. However, the player himself will be enjoying his regular game time on loan and will not want to give that up to play second fiddle with very few minutes in the second half of the campaign. His development needs him playing on a regular basis and that might mean that Rangers do choose to extend his time away at Ibrox.