How Rangers may already have given a big clue about high-profile exit….

While recent confirmation from Steven Gerrard has arrived that Ross McCrorie’s future is now a little up in the air and a loan spell might be best for the 21-year old anchor, Rangers fans might be in some senses a touch surprised that a player dubbed by many as a future captain won’t be a guaranteed starter or even that heavily involved next term.

But there has been clues this pre-season that McCrorie’s Rangers profile was rapidly diminishing, and that something could be on the cards.

Obviously there was the very public story that he might be getting loaned out, which broke some weeks ago. A football aggregator first made the claim early last month, much to many fans’ surprise, but time has borne this one out to be accurate, but a bigger clue preceded this.

When a group of red tops made the (false) allegation that Jake Hastie would be going out on loan barely two seconds after getting his foot in the door, Rangers’ website did a massive front-page feature on his arrival, his hopes, and his dreams of playing in front of the Ibrox faithful. If this was a player going out on loan, the club was sending a funny message about it. Naturally, we now know the story to be hokum.

However, if there’s been one thing conspicuous by its absence on Rangers’ official channels, it’s been the spotlight on McCrorie. A tonne of players have enjoyed the focus on them and glossy photos with interviews, but McCrorie, the bright young thing aspiring from the Academy, has not been one of them.

Ok, it was a new contract, but even fellow graduate Zak Rudden got a big news story which put the focus on him – McCrorie’s absence from Rangers’ official channels may have been a very subtle clue that the plans for his immediate future weren’t maybe what the player would like.

Regular readers know McCrorie is one we love here at Ibrox Noise – his attitude, physicality, and work ethic are the kinds of attributes fellow Academy graduates must aspire to.

But right now, with the form Glen Kamara is in, with Steven Davis’ glorious renaissance – there is just too much competition ahead of McCrorie, and competition which is basically too strong for him.

And McCrorie has been pretty much AWOL from Rangers’ various digital outlets in recent times, indicating his future prospects quite clearly.

We do have some misgivings at the site about Kamara – we weren’t sure about him at the start, but he grew into the role and is now a mainstay, but lacks McCrorie’s physicality while also being a little loose with both concentration and passing – but his sheer quality and ability shines through when he’s on his game and we can’t, currently, advocate McCrorie’s selection ahead of him.

So, McCrorie is set to get a loan move away – most likely to either another SPL side or an English Championship side. The kid is too good a player for a League One or Two, and would learn very little with such a move.

It’s just a compliment to the strength of Rangers’ midfield’s depth that we endorse the non-selection of one of our own absolute favourites in the McCrorie lad.