Cowdenbeath manager Gary Bollan has confirmed Rangers rejected their loan bid for promising attacker Dapo Mebude, as quoted by the Scottish Sun.
Scottish League One and League Two clubs have until the end of February to sign players on loan, but Cowden have been unsuccessful in this instance.
Mebude was part of the Gers youth sides recently knocked out of the UEFA Youth League and Challenge Cup by Atletico Madrid and Inverness Caley Thistle respectively, and he came off the bench in a 2-1 friendly defeat to Partick Thistle earlier this week.
“We were keen to give Dapo some experience however we were told that the Rangers management want to keep him close at hand for the rest of the season,” said Bollan, as quoted by the Scottish Sun.
“We only have a couple of days left to bring someone in so it is disappointing.”
Verdict
In recent times, we’ve seen Rangers be happy to let young players leave on loan to gain experience.
The likes of Stephen Kelly, Josh McPake, Cammy Palmer and Jamie Barjonas have all headed out for stints of various length this season.
However, it seems that the needs of the first-team took priority in this instance.
Mebude hasn’t been involved in a senior matchday squad this season, but he did make his competitive debut on the final day of the 2018/19 league campaign at Kilmarnock.
With Jermain Defoe still out injured, Florian Kamberi and Alfredo Morelos are the only established out-and-out forwards currently available, so retaining the teenager gives the coaching staff an emergency option over the coming weeks.
