Rangers are making steps to promote young winger Kai Kennedy into the senior ranks at Ibrox, academy chief Craig Mulholland has admitted to the Daily Record.
Mulholland has never been quiet about his desire to bring about a homegrown revolution on he blue half of Glasgow but, so far, first-team minutes for Rangers’ teenage talents have been few and far between.
Nathan Patterson, Josh McPake and Kennedy himself are the only three academy starlets who have made appearances alongside Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Jack and co during the 2019/20 season.
But, with the Scottish Premiership title slipping away, Steven Gerrard could do a lot worse than to experiment with a couple of budding youngsters before the campaign comes to an end.
18-year-old Kennedy, a left-winger who has set up three goals in five UEFA Youth League games in recent months, appears to be at the front of the queue right now when it comes to first-team exposure.
"Kai has had a terrific season and is already being carefully integrated into the first team programme by the manager and his staff,” Mulholland says.
"This is reflected when you look at just the last three months alone where he has travelled with the team to their winter camp in Dubai, playing in a first team friendly game, made his competitive debut at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup, trains most days with the first team and was on the bench for the last league game at Ross County before the enforced break.
"All of this achieved while still only 17 and still eligible for the under-18s. We are all excited by Kai’s potential and that of many of his colleagues."
Jordan Jones and Brandon Barker appear to have lost the faith of manager Gerrard of late while Sheyi Ojo surely hasn’t done enough to follow in the footsteps of Ryan Kent by earning a permanent transfer from Liverpool (below).
So maybe there will be space for Kennedy to establish himself in the first-team ranks in the months to come.
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