Glasgow Rangers head coach Michael Beale has enjoyed a terrific start to life in the Scottish Premiership since replacing Giovanni van Bronckhorst in the dugout earlier this season.

The English boss has won 12 of his 13 matches in the league, remaining unbeaten, and is still in contention to win the Scottish FA Cup before the end of the campaign.

Since arriving during the break for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Beale has leaned on the experience in his squad and this has led to Connor Goldson and Ben Davies establishing themselves as the first-choice centre-back pairing, despite the emergence of Leon King this season.

How has Leon King's season gone so far?

The talented Ibrox teen burst onto the scene under van Bronckhorst in the first half of the campaign and played 11 times in the Premiership before the Dutchman's exit.

However, the 19-year-old is yet to make a single appearance in any competition since Beale's arrival, although the youngster has been an unused substitute in 11 matches.

King may not be in favour at the moment but his early season form suggests that the enforcer has the potential to be a future star of Beale's team, with the Light Blues really set to strike gold with the academy graduate.

Indeed, the head coach will look to utilise his talents further down the line, but Davies and Goldson are understandably the preferred pairing in high-pressure matches due to their experience as the Gers compete for trophies.

At the start of the season, King had an Expected Transfer value on Football Transfers of €0.2m (£177k) in August 2022 and that has soared to a whopping €4.1m (£3.6m) at the time of writing (15/03/2023).

This means that his xTV has rocketed by a staggering 1934% in less than one full season of action at Ibrox, illustrating the incredible strides the young battler has taken this term.

King, who was once described as a "big Rolls-Royce" by former Gers defender Alan Hutton, has averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.84 and won 56% of his individual duels in the Premiership in 2022/23.

That rating places him higher in the squad than the likes of Scott Arfield, Glen Kamara, Allan McGregor, and Scott Wright, to name a few, showing that the teenager was a solid option for the club in the heart of the defence.

His exponential growth in the transfer market and the gem's performances in the Scottish top-flight at the age of just 19 suggest that Rangers have hit the jackpot by unearthing the youngster, and it does not seem likely that his cold spell will continue for too long if Beale is interested in helping him to develop further.