Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall believes Rangers loanee Cole McKinnon has a realistic chance of forging a high-level career in the game.
Alongside fellow Ibrox youngster Tony Weston, the teenage midfielder joined the Championship club on a season-long loan deal last week. He was thrust straight into Premier Sports Cup action against Kilmarnock and is in line for his competitive Firhill debut tonight when Thistle host Highland League club Fraserburgh. McKinnon made his debut and scored in the same game for Rangers in last season's final Premiership match at Hearts.
He is highly thought-of in the Auchenhowie academy and follows a trend of youngsters under both former boss Steven Gerrard and current Light Blues manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst in heading to Maryrhill for experience. Lewis Mayo was a top Jags performer on loan from Rangers last season and it's earned him a loan move to newly-promoted top flight club Kilmarnock.
READ MORE: Rangers transfer exit confirmed as promising striker heads for Partick Thistle experience
While none of the players swapping Govan for Partick Thistle are finished articles, McCall reckons McKinnon could become one: "First of all, they are yet to prove they are top young talents.
"Certainly from the chat I had with Steven Gerrard before Giovanni van Bronckhorst came in, it's more about how they conduct themselves.
"It's things like attitude just as much as how they play. It's a simple thing with me and young players. If you sit with Steven Gerrard for 20 minutes, he is extremely humble, yet he was one of the world's best midfielders once.
"Why would a young kid who's not been near the first team get ahead of himself? It doesn't make sense to me. Cole and Tony have come in and looked really bright.
"I think Cole McKinnon, I suspect, has a real chance to have a good career."
Thistle sit second in Group B with a game in hand ahead of their penultimate match in the section tonight and McCall says there's still work to be done on recruitment ahead of the Championship season beginning against Dundee on July 30th.
He added: "I have identified a striker and a defender. It's just a case of whether we get the deals done.
"The defender would be a loan and the striker wouldn't. I am really happy with what we've done, really pleased. We want to win against Fraserburgh. and put ourselves in a strong position."
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