Michael Beale has opened up on Leon King as he admitted the young Rangers defender is behind three senior centre-halves in the pecking order.
The youngster was thrown in at the deep end under Giovanni van Bronckhorst due to an injury crisis at the heart of the backline meaning the stopper had to play consistently in the league and Champions League against the likes of Liverpool and Napoli. The 19-year-old will benefit from those experiences in the long run with his gaffer admitting he is training really well and pushing and learning from his experienced team-mates daily.
Connor Goldson and Ben Davies are back fit and have struck up a solid partnership for Beale. John Souttar is also back fit with a cameo appearance against Kilmarnock and then minutes in the tank for the Rangers B side - a game in which Ridvan Yilmaz and King were both also involved in during the week.
READ MORE: Ex-Rangers star Josh Windass hits stunner as Sheffield Wednesday hero celebrates with five words
The young stopper has a huge future ahead of him with Beale confirming Rangers have 'high hopes' and are 'proud' to have developed him within the academy.
Speaking about his season to date and role going forward at this time, Beale said: “If you look at young Leon, he played the most minutes of anyone in the Champions League aged under 21, but he played because of injuries — no Fil Helander, no John Souttar, no Connor Goldson, at times no Ben Davies,.
“That really hurt the club in two competitions this season. In the Champions League and it hurt us in the league for sure.
“Since Ben Davies and Connor Goldson have come back and played together, the team has performed really strongly.
“Leon is training really well every day but he’s an 19-year-old centre-back who is playing for a club where the pressure, the expectation and amount of media coverage is really high.
“He will have taken a lot from those experiences and he’s probably played a lot more than he thought he would this season. Now it’s probably averaging out to where he thought it would be.
“He is now sitting behind three fit, senior centre-halves and pushing them in training. He’s learning from them every day.
“He had his football in a very condensed period and would probably have wanted it over a period of time over the whole year. He’s still one we have high hopes for and one we’re proud to have developed from the academy.”
READ NEXT:
- Key Rangers Fashion Sakala trait praised as pundit hands him 'at heart of everything good' verdict
- Rangers player ratings vs Hibs as Fashion Sakala and Antonio Colak shine at Easter Road
- Ange Postecoglou in Celtic 'make allowances' admission as boss lauds 'really good' Hearts approach
- Ange Postecoglou 'here's to 100 more' banner as Celtic boss' landmark hailed with Christmas quip
