60-cap star is now better than Lewis Ferguson

Glasgow Rangers are one of the clubs who should be looking to improve the production line from their academy to the first-team to generate more players for the national team.

Scotland are the only nation, out of 84, to have qualified for a World Cup and have never reached the knockout stages of the World Cup or of their confederation tournament (European Championship) in football history.

Part of that may be down to the lack of opportunities given to domestic talent by the top teams in the Scottish Premiership. Rangers had one Scottish player (John Souttar) and no academy graduates in their most-used XI in the 2025/26 campaign.

Findlay Curtis was not given regular minutes in the first half of the season and had to go on loan to Kilmarnock, which is where he was able to earn a call-up to the World Cup with Scotland.

In the past, too many players have left the academy at Ibrox because the club have not had a clear pathway to the fist-team, or the club have made a poor decision to release them.

The latest on Rangers’ pursuit of Lewis Ferguson

One player who was released too quickly by the Light Blues was central midfielder Lewis Ferguson, who was let go before signing for Hamilton in the summer of 2013.

13 years later and he is a Scotland international and the captain of Serie A club Bologna in the Serie A, suggesting that the club made the wrong call when they opted against keeping him in their academy.

Now, it is revealed that the Scottish Premiership giants are interested in a deal to bring the 26-year-old central midfielder back to Ibrox to finally play in the first-team.

Excitingly, the Scottish talent, who is a Gers supporter, would be open to making the move to Glasgow, but it will not be an easy deal to complete.

Bologna would want a fee of around £14.7m for Ferguson, which would be a club-record deal for Rangers, whilst Italian sides Roma and Lazio are also looking at him as a potential target.

It may not be a viable move for the Light Blues, because of that price tag, and it now remains to be seen whether or not the club will decide to move forward with a deal for him.

Rangers already released an even better player than Lewis Ferguson

Ferguson is not the only former academy talent who has been released by the club and subsequently eyed up for a return to Ibrox after several years.

Philippe Clement made it clear that he wanted to sign Kenny McLean from Norwich City during his time in charge at Ibrox, and he is now managing the Scottish star in Norfolk.

The left-footed midfielder left the club’s academy set-up 18 years ago in 2008 on a free transfer to sign for St Mirren and later went on to sign and star for the Canaries ten years later.

In the present day, McLean’s performances at league level in the 2025/26 campaign were even more impressive than Ferguson’s were in the Serie A, as he offered more to his team both on and off the ball in midfield.

The Bologna midfielder, due to both injury and selection, has only started 27 times in the Serie A in the past two seasons, whilst the Norwich ace has started 74 matches in the Championship in that time.

He has developed into a more reliable and impressive performer domestically than Ferguson, playing in both the Championship and the Premier League during his time in Norfolk, and the Gers must regret letting him go from their academy 18 years ago.

To date, McLean has racked up 16 goals and 31 assists in 310 matches in all competitions for Norwich, winning two Championship titles and playing 68 times in the Premier League.

The 34-year-old star, who has been capped 60 times by Scotland, has also been Norwich’s captain for the past two seasons, and could have grown into a leadership role at Ibrox if he had been given the chance to come through the academy.

Whilst McLean looks even better than Ferguson, based on their domestic displays, both players look like ones who got away from the Light Blues at academy level, which is why the club should continue to focus on improving the pathway to the first-team.