Michael Beale reckons Alex Lowry is ready to stake his claim for a place in the Rangers first team.
The talented attacking midfielder has been on the cusp of the full Gers starting XI for the last couple of years.
The 19-year-old has impressed in small cameos on the pitch with the rest of the club's senior stars.
Fans have grown excited about the slight playmaker due to his technical ability and decision making on the ball.
The Scot has mainly plied his trade with the Rangers B team over the last few months, as he also contended with a serious injury.
Now, with Beale preparing to take charge of his first match as Rangers boss, he admits Lowry will be very close to being in the team against Hibs.
The manager said: "I think they know what I think of them. I think young Alex is ripe now, I think he's right there at the stage where he can make a breakthrough.
"With that comes a lot of responsibility because he's got to dislodge someone who is a little bit older, a little bit more streetwise and a bit more experienced in the league.
"But I think he is ready and he will be very close to being in the team tomorrow."
Meanwhile, there's positive news on the injury front for the club.
Connor Goldson and Ben Davies have returned to full training, while John Souttar and Tom Lawrence are aiming to be back in action in January.
While it's good news about Goldson and Davies, Beale did warn that it's not guaranteed either will be quite ready to play Hibs on Thursday evening.
He said: "They've both trained. Connor has not been available for a long time, Ben a shorter amount of time compared to Connor.
"I wouldn't say they are absolutely 100 percent for the game but they both have returned to training which is the good news.
"It's just now about getting them ready to play 90 minutes.
"I think the amount of subs you can have and also having the ability to use five in-game it gives me an option to work them back within games rather than just outside of the team."
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