Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst has backed Leon King to have a 'very bright' future after the young defender was linked with Newcastle United.
King is rated as one of Rangers hottest prospects and already has experience of starting a big Champions League game at Anfield after lining up against Liverpool last week. While there are a number of teenagers playing in big games for clubs across the continent, it is rare you see a centre-back start a game of this magnitude at just 18 years of age.
It is hardly a surprise, then, that a number of clubs have been monitoring King, who has two-and-a-half years left on his contract, and Newcastle are the latest side to be linked with the Scottish defender at a time when the Magpies have signed several exciting youngsters, including Garang Kuol, Alex Murphy and Charlie McArthur. Although van Bronckhorst was unaware of interest from Newcastle, the Rangers manager was not necessarily surprised.
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"I have not heard about any interest down south," he told reporters. "Obviously, when you are performing well in Scotland, you get interest.
"Leon is a player who is developing really well. He already played some games last year but we wanted to make space for him to get more minutes. When he's taking the minutes, he's performing really well so I'm really happy.
"He's only 18, he still has a lot to learn, but he's one of the players who is open for coaching, who is open to put in the energy and work hard to better himself. His future is very bright, but he needs to continue playing well, training well. We're helping him with that process and he's developing really well."
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