A lot of the attention surrounding the B team has been on Charlie McCann and Juan Alegria, new arrivals to the academy who were bought with the hope that, one day, they will be good enough for the first-team.
Despite the Colombian international grabbing most of the headlines and being the player that many fans were calling to see promoted when goals were in short supply, it is one of his team-mates who has been on fire in both the Lowland League and UEFA Youth League – a hat-trick in the young bears 4-2 win over Septemvri Sofia his latest impressive performance.
Tony Weston arrived from Blackpool in the summer of 2020, a fee of around £250,000 believed to be the composition figure for the then 16-year old striker, Rangers having fought off competition from Leeds United and Southampton for his signature.
He currently tops the goal scoring charts for the Lowland League with 15 goals, an impressive feat for someone so young playing against physical, no nonsense defenders most weeks and hopes will be high that he can continue to make progress on his way to the first-team.
As we’ve seen with Nathan Patterson, there is no right or wrong way for a player to develop, if Weston had the physique of Alegria he would probably have made his debut already, however, the experience he is gaining this season will be invaluable when he comes up against bigger opponents in the future.
He’s clearly too good for Scottish football’s fifth tier and should look to get a loan spell higher up the leagues next season, if not before, and he should bend the ear of Jermain Defoe on how to make technical adjustments to his game that will negate his relatively small frame – along with Roy Makaay, he couldn’t be in a better place to learn his craft.