This piece is an extract from yesterday's Rangers Insider newsletter, which is emailed out at 5pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Rangers Review team.

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A summer of change is on the horizon at Ibrox as Michael Beale moulds his squad into one he hopes will challenge for the title.

There will be a host of departures with several players out of contract but other futures are also currently up in the air. 

One such player who falls into that category is Leon King. The 19-year-old was thrust into the spotlight during an injury-ravaged first half of the season where he was subjected to sobering beatings from the crème de la crème of European football.

It was, at times, a brutal education but one that will undoubtedly serve him well going forward. However, the return of Michael Beale and key personnel in the defence has brought King’s game time to a shuddering halt.

The teenager hasn’t played a single minute of first-team football for Rangers under Beale, who was quizzed on that detail prior to Sunday’s Scottish Cup tie with Raith Rovers, saying: “If you look at young Leon, he played the most minutes of anyone in the Champions League aged under 21, but he played because of injuries — no Fil Helander, no John Souttar, no Connor Goldson, at times no Ben Davies.

“Leon is training really well every day but he’s a 19-year-old centre-back who is playing for a club where the pressure, the expectation and amount of media coverage is really high.

“He will have taken a lot from those experiences and he’s probably played a lot more than he thought he would this season. Now it’s probably averaging out to where he thought it would be.

“He is now sitting behind three fit, senior centre halves and pushing them in training. He’s learning from them every day.

“He had his football in a very condensed period and would probably have wanted it over a period of time over the whole year. He’s still one we have high hopes for and one we’re proud to have developed from the academy.”

Beale’s words indicate he is still very much valued at the club but after sampling first-team football King now needs to kick on, something that doesn’t look likely at Rangers, for the immediate future at least.

There were reported deadline day loan bids knocked back from clubs either side of Hadrian’s Wall in January. Come the summer, with Rangers keen on adding another centre back to the ranks, King may need to seek senior football elsewhere.

A season-long loan could prove beneficial if the destination is the correct one. Would playing for the likes of an Aberdeen, Hearts or Hibs be the best option? I’m not entirely sure it would.

For King to grow and develop at a rate that could force him into Beale’s plans then he has to look at a move further afield and moving away from home.

Rangers Review:

The English Championship and League One would challenge him in ways he simply wouldn’t encounter if he remained in the Scottish Premiership. The relentless nature of both divisions cannot help but improve King as a player and as a person.

The big clubs in England utilise both leagues to develop their young players. If we take Bolton Wanderers, as an example, teams such as Liverpool and the two Manchester giants have trusted Ian Evatt’s men with some of their hottest prospects in Conor Bradley, James Trafford and Shola Shoretire. Both Bradley and Shoretire have played in the Champions League and Europa League respectively but that doesn’t mean they’ve made it as footballers.

It would be a surprise if Rangers weren't looking to explore the English lower leagues for the next stage in King’s development to bridge that gap between B team football and first-team level.

The same logic applies to Alex Lowry who, injuries aside, has also found opportunities hard to come by this term. Like King, he is too good to be playing in the fifth tier of Scottish football and it's clear he isn't of the standard required to feature more under Beale.

At 19, King is still a relative baby as far as his footballing career is concerned. It’s far too early to be passing judgement on his Rangers future but the most logical step for the next stage of his learning has to be a temporary switch to another club in order to learn and understand more about the game and himself.