The curse of the Rangers centre-half struck again as the Academy lost their skipper and one of the club’s brightest prospects to injury as they overcame Hammarby 2-1 to secure safe passage to the next round of the UEFA Youth League.
Leon King has a big future in football and has already been in and around the first-team squad with many believing it is a matter of when, not if, he follows the trail blazed by Nathan Patterson over the last couple of seasons in becoming the next Auchenhowie graduate to become a star under Steven Gerrard.
71′ A break in play as Leon King receives some treatment.
— Rangers B & Academy (@RFC_Youth) October 20, 2021
With twenty minutes left against the Swede’s King had to be stretchered off with, as yet, no indication as to the severity of the injury suffered, whenever a player goes down on an artificial surface, it’s never usually a good sign.
King’s first professional contract expires at the end of this season but the club has been looking to tie him down to a longer deal, that he has already played for the first-team says it all about how highly he is regarded by the manager and coaching staff – it would be hugely frustrating to lose him to a club in the Premier League, a potential repeat of the situation that saw Dire Mebude move to Manchester City.
As captain of the B team in the Lowland League, he will be a huge miss to the young squad, however, the biggest frustration is that, with Filip Helander injured, Niko Katic out on loan and both Leon Balogun and Calvin Bassey likely to be away with Nigeria in January, he would have been even closer to the senior squad – fingers crossed it’s good news once he is properly assessed.