Rangers’ youth teams are playing just as well, if not better, than the first-squad at the moment. This is fantastic news for the Rangers supports who are looking forward to the next decade. There are quite a few promising young players who are hoping to make the leap from reserve to first-team football in the next year or sooner.
But while players like Nathan Patterson could be close to earning a spot in the first-team as soon as this season, young players like Leon King have a few years before making the step-up to Steven Gerrard’s senior squad. King is just 15, and his future with the club is still up in the air. According to Jordan Campbell, King is nowhere near close to signing a professional contract with Rangers. This has caused some of England’s top teams to monitor the young defender’s availability.
This news has frustrated many Rangers fans who question why an academy would spend so much time developing players when they can be snapped away by bigger clubs. Supporters are frustrated at the power these European powerhouses have.
Hard for a (on his next birthday) 16 year old to reject rumoured figures of £5k p/w from English Premiership clubs. They can afford to take a gamble at that, whereas Rangers simply can’t. The club is powerless, UEFA need to change something because the big clubs will monopolise.
— Every other Saturday (@CF3Loyal) December 18, 2019
What would be the downside to a rule say, ‘if spent 2+years in a system before 18 then move on-must be a guaranteed sell on % of next transfer to original club?’ Would surely be peanuts to big clubs but would keep the incentive for youth investment in medium to smaller ones.
— r (@rangers_guy) December 18, 2019
Fifa need to look at this issue closely.
Major clubs are stockpiling huge volumes of talent; most of whom won’t get near their 1st Team. This has a huge opportunity cost; both for the team who initially found & developed the player, and for the player themselves.
— PJ (@Pugoramma) December 18, 2019
Might not b as simple as that could really want to stay but numbers these rich clubs offer are to hard to turn down
— Rab G (@Glenrobert) December 18, 2019
Should Rangers take the gamble on Leon King and offer him the big bucks?
Yes
No
Other fans still have faith that King could sign a new deal. After all, he isn’t the only player who has taken a while to sort out his contract.
it took a while for Dapo to sign his deal and sure he rejected several offers, don’t really understand the panic
— Scott Cameron (@Cammy26_2) December 18, 2019
Said the same with Nathan Patterson and hes signed a new deal.
— ??so? (@gordong1992) December 18, 2019
What do we think?
Fans will be glad to see that their academy is developing prosperous players. However, if bigger clubs come and snatch them away for nothing, it leaves them asking one question – what’s the point?