Rangers academy has taken a lot of stick in recent years, an apparent lack of quality coming through into the first team, however, Cole McKinnon and Robbie Fraser earning call-ups to the Scotland Under-21 team suggests that all is not lost.
The national team age groups are littered with youngsters from Auchenhowie, either current players or ones that have moved on.
What Rangers need to adjust is the target for academy players and for ones like Cole McKinnon and Robbie Fraser.
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Cole McKinnon and Robbie Fraser in cap call ups
Both players have featured in first-team squads and are at pivotal moments in their respective careers.
McKinnon has experienced senior football out on loan and showed what he is capable of with the goal he scored for Rangers at Tynecastle.
Number eights are getting rarer in football and he is almost a throwback similar in style to Ian Ferguson.
Rangers don’t need Cole McKinnon and Robbie Fraser to be the next Ian Ferguson and David Robertson though.
What Philippe Clement needs is to be able to sell one of his left backs knowing that he could promote Fraser, or let John Lundstram or Ryan Jack’s contracts expire with the knowledge that McKinnon can step up and fill the gap.
Alex Lowry looks like he will come back a better player and it was only the decision to sign Leon Balogun that saw Leon King moved down the pecking order – we know what both of them can do.
It’s the same with Adam Devine, he more than proved that he can be trusted under Giovanni van Bronckhorst and yet Michael Beale brought Dujon Sterling in during the summer, this is the sort of decision the club needs to stop making.
You don’t get called up to the Scotland Under-21 squad if you don’t have some sort of ability but, as we have seen before, ability isn’t the only factor in whether or not a player makes it at Rangers.