Rangers were served a reminder this week of the lack of homegrown players when Scotland played and would have been frustrated seeing individuals like Liam Kelly starting against France.
In fact, another five players who spent time at Auchenhowie kicked off in front of the Motherwell stopper in another example that quality local options are still available.
With Robby McCrorie likely to want to leave Rangers at the end of this season, Liam Kelly’s contract status makes him an obvious choice with his manager Stuart Kettlewell realistic about his chances of keeping hold of the Steelmen’s number one, as reported by The Herald.
How Rangers return makes sense for Liam Kelly
When asked about how hard it will be to keep the now Scotland international, Kettlewell was under no illusions that it will be easy
“The full intention from us is that we would love to keep the player. He’s our captain, he’s a talisman for us, but we’ll see how that situation moves on in the next few months and where it sits slightly further down the line.”
Rangers could have been brave and given Lewis Kelly minutes when we were in the lower leagues.
Is he as good as Allan McGregor or even Jack Butland? No.
But he is still a top class goalkeeper and deserves to be a backup to Angus Gunn under Steve Clarke, there is a reason why he was tipped as a possible replacement for the hall of fame keeper.
With the 27-year old’s contract expiring at the end of this season, he won’t be short of offers and there should be one on the table from Rangers.
Not only is he home grown but McCrorie and Jon McLaughlin are both set to leave next summer.
Rangers need an experienced understudy and Liam Kelly ticks a lot of boxes.
If he is willing to take a cut in playing time.
Philippe Clement, if he wants as big a squad as possible in Europe, has to address the problem that previous managers have neglected and Kelly is an easy decision to make.
