Steven Gerrard has today confirmed rising star defender Lewis Mayo will be going out on loan this season because Rangers’ manager believes he requires game time, and not to be the club’s fourth-choice defender.

The Auchenhowie graduate, who had stellar performances in both friendlies in France, has been long-tipped for a bigger role at Ibrox potentially alongside fellow RTC alumni Leon King, but despite Niko Katic’s injury, there will be no promotion for the promising young stopper just yet.

Gerrard’s words on youth recently have been encouraging certainly, but actions speak louder than words, and despite Ross McCrorie’s lengthy spell down south for the same reasons, we’re not sure the Scotland youth captain will in fact play a bigger role this season for Rangers despite Gerrard’s promises and projections on his future.

As for Mayo, we always want to encourage our young players, and they always need a pathway, but for now the manager has confirmed the 20-year old (hardly a spring chicken any more, even in defender terms) will go out on loan rather than being a third or fourth choice stopper at Rangers.

In a way we can agree that a defender of this age probably needs to cut his teeth with first-team football at a slightly less demanding level, but equally this is the perfect chance for the best youth to make their mark, especially given Rangers’ difficulties right now at the back, and yet Mayo won’t get that opportunity yet.

Hopefully he will.