When Rangers first signed Leon King down on a professional contract, there was huge cause for celebration.
The Gers had already lost promising midfielder Billy Gilmour to Chelsea in the years previously, with several of England’s top clubs having their eye on Leon King.
But fast forward four or so years and things haven’t gone quite to plan for the now 20-year-old defender, who has found chances at a premium under Philippe Clement.
Now, alongside another two Rangers academy talents for whom the future was once exceedingly bright, the English lower leagues could be calling.
Leon King linked with move to Manchester club
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where it went wrong for Leon King at Rangers but it’s fair to say the club have had a role to play.
Having convinced Leon over playing time at Ibrox, Rangers reportedly held off £10k per week competition from the Premier League to secure the ‘wonderkid’ defender’s future as a 16-year-old.
Two years later and – amid some seriously woeful decision-making in the transfer market – Rangers were forced to call upon Leon King as the club returned to the Champions League.
It was initially positive for King, whose performances amid a spate of injuries to Ben Davies, Connor Goldson and John Souttar drew yet more links to the Premier League.
Manchester United were mentioned as Leon King suitors, but the defender’s lack of experience at Champions League level eventually told.
Since a record-breaking Champions League campaign for all the wrong reasons, it’s never been the same for King who has been reinvented as a midfielder after his confidence-sapping teenage stint at centre-back.
Now, Leon King is being linked with a move to League Two Salford City – a club owned by members of Manchester United’s class of ‘92 – rather than Old Trafford.
That’s according to Football Insider, who claim that Salford have made an enquiry about taking the 20-year-old on loan this campaign with his Ibrox contract running to 2026.
Alex Lowry & Adam Devine approach Ibrox crossroads
Leon King isn’t the only once-promising Rangers academy graduate who is being linked with the exit door this summer.
Back in January 2022, creative midfielder Alex Lowry burst onto the scene with a debut goal v Stirling Albion and Gers fans were excited about ‘one of their own’.
Such was the hype around Lowry’s start to life at Rangers, the club temporarily had to hold off competition from Manchester City and Newcastle United to tie Lowry down on a new deal.
But over the last few seasons a combination of injury and competition has resulted in Lowry slipping down the pecking order and chances appear a premium.
Even with Ianis Hagi and Todd Cantwell out of the side as they ready Ibrox exits, the 21-year-old has been unable to get a sniff.
Similarly to Leon King, Football Insider are now claiming that League Two Carlisle United have launched a bid for the Rangers playmaker.
And finally, young Rangers right-back Adam Devine, who was never quite linked to the heights of King or Lowry, is also at a crossroads in his Ibrox career.
According to the Rangers Review, Devine ‘will be allowed to leave’ if he can secure a move elsewhere with his contract up at the end of the season.
If deals for all three of these players go through before Friday’s deadline, it will heap the scrutiny on the club’s academy with few players managing to maintain their place following the step up to the club’s first-team squad.
In recent seasons Ross McCausland stands as Rangers’ biggest success story, whilst there are high hopes for Robbie Fraser, Cole McKinnon and Zak Lovelace at Ibrox.
