Scottish Premiership giants Rangers lost Ibrox academy star Lewis MacLeod to Championship side Brentford but he has struggled at Griffin Park with injuries.
Lewis MacLeod made his first league start for Brentford since October 2016 on Saturday. And it is fair to say he ensured the long wait was worth it.
The 23-year-old produced a superb individual performance in the 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough at Griffin Park, marking his long-awaited return with a well-taken left-footed finish into the far corner. And his Man of the Match award, voted for by the impressed fans on Twitter, was deservedly earned.
This was exactly the sort of performance that saw Brentford pay an initial £800,000, rising to £1.3 million, for MacLeod in January 2015, and the sort of display that had Rangers fans tipping this former Ibrox favourite for stardom.
An Auchenhowie academy graduate who started life at Rangers all the way back in 2004, he was a shining light for the Glasgow giants upon their demotion to the fourth tier six years ago and was arguably their stand-out performer during the trek through the lower leagues.
So there was a great deal of disappointment among some sections of the Rangers support when MacLeod left for Brentford, even if he did earn the cash-strapped club a decent financial windfall.
And if MacLeod can stay free of injuries, there is nothing to suggest he cannot prove exactly why he was so highly-rated at Ibrox.
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