Rangers have a few players who will be seeking much more game time than they are getting just now.
Since his arrival, boss Philippe Clement has had to deal with a high spate of injuries to point of admitting he had never seen anything like it in his managerial career so far.
As such, Clement has been working with tighter squad restraints than he’d like. But it hasn’t stopped Rangers from lifting the first piece of Scottish silverware this season.
In addition, despite the injury setbacks in the senior squad, the situation hasn’t been totally desperate. Some younger players are yet to taste first-team action in 2023/24 and it begs the question: should these guys be heading out on loan for the rest of the campaign?
Here, we have listed why these three Rangers starlets would benefit from a loan in 2024.
Adam Devine
Due to Ridvan Yilmaz being excluded from the Rangers Europa League group stage squad, fellow full-back Adam Devine was involved in all six matchdays.
Unfortunately for the 20-year-old, he didn’t make an appearance off the bench. And that is expected given James Tavernier and the emerging Dujon Sterling are ahead in the pecking order.
Devine simply needs senior minutes under his belt having not spent time out on loan since a spell with Brechin City in 2021.
Former Rangers right-back Alan Hutton advocated a loan move for Devine in November and we think the same would be more than ideal for him.
Leon King
While we’re not too sure what the immediate future holds for Adam Devine, the picture is a little clearer for Leon King.
Clement is reportedly keen to sanction a loan exit for the young central defender in January and it would be a sensible move given King has played just one first-team minute against Dundee this season.
Rangers don’t have a huge amount of depth at centre-back so Clement may hang on to King for a bit in January if he can’t find someone to strengthen his backline.
But news at the start of December suggests all roads for King lead out of Ibrox next month as he seeks the kind of game time he was receiving under Michael Beale in 2022/23.
Bailey Rice
Bailey Rice has been compared to Rangers legend Barry Ferguson already and he is only 17.
The future is immensely bright for Rice, with former Ibrox boss Michael Beale insisting before he was sacked this season that the former Motherwell kid is more than ready to step up and represent Rangers.
And while Rice has been handed 13 minutes of senior football this season against Motherwell and St Mirren, we think a loan move would accelerate his burgeoning development even more.
Of course, Rice is featuring regularly for Rangers B but a first ever loan switch to a lower SPFL outfit could be the making of this exciting young talent.
