Incoming Rangers signing Jose Cifuentes revealed that he very nearly quit the game as a teenager altogether after his mum urged him to chuck it.
The Ecuador international looks increasingly likely to join the Ibrox side as Rangers close in on their first major signing for next season. But the 24-year-old Los Angeles FC star came from a humble background in South America and last year admitted he nearly gave it all up when it wasn't going to plan for him when he was a teenager at the country's capital in Quito, after failing to adapt from his home town of Esmeraldas which has high poverty levels.
He said: "I would finish my homework and go directly to the football pitch as a kid. Eventually, I got offered a football scholarship in Quito and moved onto a big academy later as a teenager. But there was a time when I didn't play for eight games or so and I called my mum and said, 'send me money for my ticket back home. I'm starving here. I want to play, but they won't let me' and she said she would buy me a ticket tomorrow. But it was on one condition...I would never set foot on a pitch again and get another job.
"That's when everything changed. Now I am in a position financially to help academies back home so that other students from similar backgrounds can get scholarships to continue their studies. Knowing that there is a boy who will graduate and soon be playing abroad representing Ecuador is wonderful. I visit every time I return to Ecuador. For the support and the confidence they gave me and when I thought I couldn't continue, they gave me a chance."
Meanwhile, Stephen Wright could be set for a return to Ibrox as the former player and coach is poised to hold talks over replacing outgoing academy chief Craig Mulholland. The 51-year-old has been with Dundee since 2019 but could be in line for a return amid the shake-up at Ibrox as Michael Beale puts his own stamp on the club.
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