Speaking during a Q+A for the Rangers Youth Development Company, Rangers sporting director, Ross Wilson, has praised Stephen Kelly after his breakthrough at Ross County.
The 20-year-old joined the Highlands side on a season-long loan deal in the summer.
His step up to the top flight followed an impressive 2019/20 campaign with Championship side Ayr United, but initially, he struggled for game time.
Kelly watched the Staggies’ first four Premiership matches from the bench before he made seven substitute appearances, with each lasting less than half an hour.
However, the Scotland U21 international has started County’s last three games in all competitions and Wilson is glad to see him finally being granted opportunities to show what he can do.
“We’ve got some really interesting players out on loan and that loan strategy needs to be successful for us,” said Wilson during a Q+A for the Rangers Youth Development Company. “We are pleased that Stephen Kelly is now starting to play – we believe he should have played a lot more, but he’s starting to play at Ross County now.”
“I think he was Man of the Match at the weekend, so we are pleased with that.”
He then went on to mention the “strong opportunity” that Kai Kennedy has at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, before identifying Josh McPake, James Maxwell, Kieran Wright and Rhys Breen as players that loan manager, Billy Kirkwood, is also monitoring closely.
Ross Wilson pleased with Rangers loanee Stephen Kelly – Verdict
Kelly was the club’s stand out loanee last season and his performances at Somerset Park earned him a contract extension until 2023 [Rangers.co.uk].
He’s clearly very highly thought of at Ibrox and it’s telling that he was the first loanee mentioned by Wilson.
The Gers youngster didn’t have the ideal start to life at County, but it seems he has now won over Stuart Kettlewell and he still has more than enough time to make his stint a successful one.
Steven Gerrard currently has a lot of options in midfield but there are genuine hopes that Kelly has to ability to make it at the top level and this season is likely to be key for his development.
