Leon King reveals the Rangers conversation with Philippe Clement that is fuelling his Ibrox dream

Rangers kid Leon King hopes he can storm his way into Philippe Clement’s plans as he looks to catch a second wind at Ibrox.

The teenager found himself trapped in the eye of a Champions League hurricane last season as Gio van Bronckhorst’s side were flattened by Liverpool, Ajax and Napoli. The Scotland youth international was involved in all six of those bruising group-stage defeats before a sickening head clash at St Mirren in November 2022 halted his progress.

However, he’s slowly started to work his way back into new boss Philippe Clement’s plans having registered three short substitute cameos last month. Now having held heart-to-heart talks with the Belgian during Gers’ winter training camp in Spain, King is ready to rock again. The 20-year-old said: “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been with the first team for four years.

“I made my debut against Falkirk in the cup at 16, and that just feels like last week. Now I’m 20 and I’ve played 30 games for the club I support, the club I grew up supporting. It’s amazing, but I need to keep my head down and crack on now, this is only the start of my career and I need to reach my full potential.

“Obviously I was thrown into those Champions League games at a really young age but I’m grateful for those experiences. It’s only going to help me in my career if we get to that stage again.

“But it’s just about how you adapt in these situations. Sometimes you will play, sometimes you won’t. It’s about taking your chance when they come.

“I had a chat with the manager in La Manga that went really well. Obviously it’s difficult when a new manager comes in because you don’t know what to expect. You don’t know if you’ll still be here, you don’t know what the script