Rangers continue to have no set path for players in the B team as they look to impress Philippe Clement.
The manager has implemented a policy that sees the academy players integrated into first team training on a regular basis so that it is easier for them to make the step up when they are needed.
It is a start, but Rangers need to be more in place rather than just ad-hoc B team games and sending players out on loan.
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One player who the academy staff will be hoping to move seamlessly through the age groups is Aiden McCallion.
The 16-year old midfielder has excelled in the Under-18s side this season to the extent that he was given his B team debut against Fraserburgh in the challenge cup.
Incredibly, as B team head coach and interim academy director Malky Thomson revealed after the 5-0 win, McCallion has already made an impression on Philippe Clement:
“It’s pleasing for Aiden because I believe he had 20 minutes in a bounce game for the first-team against Motherwell.
“It’s deservedly so that he got an opportunity tonight given the performances he’s been putting in at youth level.
“David [McCallum] and I are always looking towards the younger ones and getting them through.
“It’s important that we’re looking to the vision of the younger ones and getting them into this B Team group for the experience.”
Rangers need to create proper academy pathway
For once, it looks like Rangers are being proactive with one of their academy starlets.
Bailey Rice is still expected to force his way into the first team but it looks like he will now be looking over his shoulder.
It is all part of a process that the Gers boss implemented last season to make it easier for academy players to adapt to the first team set up:
“They have been training a lot with us to get the principles, to understand the demand in the first team.
“We are busy with this programme to get integration into the first team as much as possible in our training. We are going to continue with that. This club comes out of a financial difficult situation.
“The club needs for the future to get also money in by producing or making players better, getting young players in and to make them better to sell them.”
Rangers have plenty of players in and around the B team and first team who could do with minutes in midfield so McCallion must be highly thought of around Auchenhowie.
With no experienced or elite level academy director though, his chances of success currently rely on impressing Clement in training and whenever he gets the chance to line-up alongside his senior colleagues.
Will Rice and McCallion play together in front of a packed Ibrox one day? Time will tell.
