Rangers’ January transfer call regarding loanee Rhys Breen is paying off after another controversial SFA decision.
The 21-year-old centre-back spent the first half of the season with Partick Thistle in SPFL League One.
However, after forcing his way into the side early in the campaign, an injury halted his progress and he had not long returned to fitness by the time the January transfer window opened.
Breen had been due to stay at Firhill until the end of the campaign, but after Queen of the South registered their interest, his original loan was terminated and he headed to Palmerston Park.
There was risk attached to the decision, given that Breen wasn’t guaranteed to receive playing time in the Championship, as was proven by Allan Johnston’s decision to leave him on the bench for the first two fixtures following his arrival.
Yet, the call can now be viewed with some certainty as a successful gamble.
That’s because not only has Breen broken into the QoS starting XI and played the last two matches at centre-back, but Partick Thistle haven’t played a single match since the turn of the year.
Adverse weather conditions saw several games postponed in early January and then the SFA decided to suspend all leagues below the Championship due to the severity of the Covid-19 situation.
On Tuesday, the SFA denied League One and Two side’s permission to return to training with a view to restarting those leagues citing Scottish Government concerns, despite the club’s offering to test players on a weekly basis [Scottishfa.co.uk].
Several Rangers loanees have been affected by the controversial call and Breen would have been another had the club not opted to pull him out of the third tier last month.
Given that he’s already 21, he needs to impress at senior level as soon as possible if he is to win a contract extension at Ibrox, and that dream is still alive as a result of his jump to the Championship.
Meanwhile, a former Rangers star is currently involved in a relegation battle in a European top-flight league with his side on a horror run of form.
