After Michael Beale confirmed fringe man Alex Lowry is likely to go out on loan, curiously, the Athletic claim fellow fringe youngster Leon King has been the subject of similar bids, but that Rangers have rejected them.

The sports paper suggests clubs north and south of the border have put bids in to take the defender on loan till the end of the season but Rangers aren’t interested in letting him go.

With just John Souttar and James Sands as defensive options as well as King beyond first choices Connor Goldson and Ben Davies, the quality of alternative options for Michael Beale is a bit limited. Souttar is miles off match fitness, while Sands has become increasingly surplus the past couple of months.

Meaning King is one of the few options currently available and fit that Beale actually has, and unless a suitor club offers a big cheque for King’s signature, he’s not going to go anywhere.

This is a different situation to Lowry. Lowry has a boatload of talent ahead of him, and the signing of Todd Cantwell made it 10x worse, but King is one of the remaining defenders to actually keep fit, so while his performances were less than impressive overall, it was trying circumstances and he’s still seen as one for the future.

The day that changes is the day he will go out on loan, never to be seen again.

As things stand, Beale has confirmed he does want a new defender, which means the ones he currently have aren’t quite fulfilling what he needs, but it wasn’t suggested as a critical priority, and with the claims about King, the youngster is deemed as needed for depth.

The problem for him is he wants to play, but is well down the pecking order now at Ibrox, so while Rangers are rejecting the bids, King is reaching an age where he needs to play more.

If he can’t get that at Ibrox he will have to move on and probably end up another Kai Kennedy while he’s at it. Or he could be Nathan Patterson.

We wish the best for him either way.