Rangers midfielder Stephen Kelly has won a host of new fans this summer after impressing during pre-season for Steven Gerrard’s Scottish champions – and the Scotland under-21 international admits he hopes he has can do enough to force his way into the manager’s plans when the competitive games start this weekend.
Kelly spent last season on loan at Ross County, earning rave reviews for the Staggies as they avoided relegation to the Championship, before returning to Ibrox and catching the eye against the likes of Arsenal and Brighton.
Having played alongside a variety of different midfield partners, Kelly thinks it can help him improve as a player as he reflected on how much his time in Dingwall helped make him a better footballer.
“It has been brilliant. Playing [with] different types of players, different cultures of players, it helps me,” Kelly told Rangers TV.
“If I can get in amongst it and feel at home with them, that is only going to benefit me.
“I think last year improved me a lot and I probably realise that a lot more now. I think any minutes that you get, you are always going to improve.
“Of course [I want to be in the manager’s thoughts]. That is what I have tried to do ever since I have come back in for the first day of training.
“Just tried to do as well as I can every day, maximum effort every day. But also trying to bring quality as well.
“I feel that I am starting to settle in as well. Hopefully just more of the same.”
Fans think the midfielder is being groomed to replace Rangers veteran
Kelly’s emergence over the summer has Rangers fans thinking he is being primed as the long-term successor to Northern Irish icon Steven Davis.
Bringing the midfielder into the side and giving him regular appearances is what his development needs over the next 12 months.
Another loan move would only really benefit Kelly if he goes somewhere that he’d be challenging for trophies so it seems unlikely he’ll go anywhere in a rush.
If he can get the minutes he needs, he could well end up cementing his place in the starting XI before the end of the season.
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