One of the many accusations currently thrown at Rangers is that they don’t promote enough youth players through to Philippe Clement’s first team.
The manager is a keen advocate of using the academy to supplement his squad and has given chances to players like Ross McCausland, Robbie Fraser and Cole McKinnon since he arrived at Ibrox.
Part, but not all, of the problem is that Rangers are finding it increasingly hard to get players like Billy Gilmour and Nathan Patterson into the starting XI for the senior side with Rory Wilson another name who could have made an impact.
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Rory Wilson continues where he left off at Rangers
The Scotland Under-21 striker continued at Aston Villa where he left off and it wouldn’t have taken Steven Gerrard to give them a nod towards his prolific talents.
At 18-years old, Wilson is yet to fully develop into his 6ft frame, however, former B team teammate James Graham isn’t surprised as the goals continue to mount up:
“Rory was always good,” Graham told Football Scotland.
“He used to play up with us at under-18s and you could always tell he was gonna be flying. He’s gone down there and ripped it up. He was good.
“He was obviously really young when he was at Rangers but he was scoring goals and you could tell he was gonna be a player.
“He’s went there and he’s flying. He scored some crazy numbers last season so it’s good to see.
“I still give him the odd message. I’ve played with him and it’s good to see anyone you’ve played and trained with to go and do well. If he carries on the way he’s going, he will!”
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Wilson probably thought his development would be better by playing with and against better players at age group level.
With Clement’s experience of developing youth players and taking a risk on them and Rangers injury problems last season, he could well have been given his chance years ahead of schedule.
Rangers are overdue to produce another academy striker for the first team
It’s been 40 years since Rangers fans saw a striker come through their youth ranks and make a real impact – Robert Fleck.
Ross McCormack had a great career but wasn’t a regular and didn’t stick around long enough either.
A McCormack coming through now is probably in the first team at 18.
It’s the same with Wilson, with Dessers as the only fit striker for long periods last season, there wasn’t just space in the squad for a striker, there was plenty of playing time available.
Wilson’s contract is set to expire at the end of this season if he doesn’t agree a new one, Clement could do a lot worse than asking if he fancies coming home.
