Gerrard has regularly included young talents in his pre-season and winter training camps as he looks to run the rule over who might be ready to make the step up.

 

Gerrard brought young full-back Nathan Patterson off the bench on Thursday night during Rangers’ Europa League defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.

 

 

A number of youngsters are starting to knock on the door of the first team and Gerrard makes no bones about the fact the club must produce players who are able to handle turning out at the top level.

 

“It’s very important”, Gerrard told The Athletic when asked about how key it is to produce young players who can play at the top level.

 

 

“I’ve said it many times. If they’re good enough and they deserve it and they earn it, I’ll give them opportunities.”

 

Rangers have already sent a number of young talents away for loan spells to continue their development, with goalkeeper Robby McCrorie at Livingston, midfielder Stephen Kelly at Ross County and winger Jake Hastie at Motherwell all shipped out. 

 

 

Other players have also been linked with loan exits and it remains to be seen which youngsters Gerrard decides to keep in and around the first team squad at Ibrox over the course of the season with several, including Patterson and Kai Kennedy, highly rated.