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Gareth Fullerton

Linfield teens celebrating after sealing big moves to Rangers

Linfield Academy teenagers Blaine McClure and Callum Burnside have earned big moves to Rangers.

The Northern Ireland youth internationals will put pen-to-paper on three-year contracts with the Ibrox club this weekend.

The two youngsters had been on the radar of several clubs across the water but have pledged their young futures to the Light Blues.

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McClure has been with Linfield for the past seven years and has been featuring for the club's Under 18 and Swifts sides this season.

The 16-year-old centre midfielder - who hails from North Belfast and attends Boys' Model - also starred for County Antrim at last summer's SuperCupNI tournament, walking away with the Player of the Tournament.

McClure also had also been attracting interest from clubs in England and Scotland, and had a number of trials before deciding to sign for Rangers.

Ballymena native Burnside - who is also 16 and attends De La Salle school - guested for Rangers at last summer's SuperCupNI, with the Glasgow club reaching the Junior final before losing out to Manchester United.

The midfielder scored in a semi-final win over County Antrim, with Rangers boss Cameron Campbell saying afterwards : "Callum is an old school box-to-box midfielder, rather than a six or defensive midfielder. And he has loads of energy to match his quality.

Callum Burnside (left) celebrates scoring at last year's SuperCupNI (Brian Little/PressEye)

"At Rangers that's what we want because we want to score goals, so he fits really well into the playing style at Rangers."

The Linfield pair - who are graduates of the Irish FA's hugely successful JD Academy - are expected to sign their deals this Saturday and will travel to and from Rangers before moving permanently to Glasgow this summer.

They will join a number of other Northern Ireland youngsters at the club including Charlie Lindsay, Mason Munn, Lewis MacKinnon and Ross McCausland.

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