The young midfielder joined Ayr United on a season-long loan last month.
The 19-year-old made his senior debut for Rangers last season in a Scottish League Cup match against his new loan side, but is too far away from the quality required to make a real first-team impact.
Having been part of the Gers’ development side for a number of years, the midfielder has revealed Gerrard’s advice has motivated him to make a success of himself in the Scottish Championship.
As quoted by The Herald, he said: “I spoke to the manager and he said that I had done the Reserve side of things so that is probably not going to benefit me as much this season.
“If he wanted to keep me here, he could have. But that wasn’t going to benefit my development and I wouldn’t have improved enough by this time next year because I wouldn’t have been getting the games. If I can go and get 25, 30, 40 games, that is going to make me better.”
The Rangers manager’s opinion on this matter appears to be spot on. There is no use in Kelly’s career stalling as part of Rangers’ reserves, even if it means he might steal minutes here and there with the first-team.
If Kelly can get the dozens of games that he’s looking for under his belt elsewhere then it’ll certainly go a long way towards pushing himself into Gerrard’s plans.
The Scotland U19 international is already making a positive impression at Ayr too, scoring his first senior goal in a League Cup match against Straraer at the weekend, which was highlighted by the SPFL on social media.
With league action kicking off this weekend and the Honest Men hoping to push for a play-off place in the second-tier like last season, Kelly should have the opportunity to make a bit of a name for himself in an ambitious team.
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