Glasgow Rangers have seen a number of talented players rise through the academy set up over the years, including current first-team gems Leon King and Allan McGregor - who are at opposite ends of their respective careers.

The likes of Steven Naismith, Barry Ferguson, and - more recently - Billy Gilmour and Nathan Patterson came through the youth ranks in Glasgow.

However, not every talented gem who spent time in Rangers' academy went on to make their mark in the first-team at Ibrox and one player the club will be having nightmares over is Lewis Ferguson.

The central midfielder was in the youth team from 2009-2013 before being released. He moved on to Hamilton and eventually earned himself a transfer to Aberdeen at first-team level in 2018.

Ferguson signed for Serie A side Bologna in the summer of 2022 for €2.5m (£2.1m), after 169 appearances in all competitions for the Dons, and former Hamilton owner Ronnie MacDonald was bemused as to why the Gers did not try to re-sign the gem.

He said: “He was their (Aberdeen's) midfield enforcer when he’d just turned 19 years of age. If there was a hole in their team, he was the one they’d look for to fill it. But he’s a terrific lad with a great attitude and he’d have done it without questioning it. As a person and a player, Lewis is a diamond.

“He’s captaincy material and, when I look at him, he looks like a Rangers player and captain-type to me. Considering his family background, I can’t understand why there hasn’t been interest from them in him. But if he’s going to go to Italy, the best of luck to him."

However, they would not have been in a position where they needed to sign him from Aberdeen if they had identified his talent and developed him for themselves during his youth career.

Former Hibernian man Tam McManus recently stated that the "flying" midfielder would "walk into" the current Rangers squad and his statistics in the Premiership prior to his move to Bologna back up that claim.

The 23-year-old, who has scored three goals in six starts in the Serie A this season, averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.29 across 32 matches in the Scottish top-flight last season. He scored 11 goals and made 2.5 tackles and interceptions per game as he excelled as a box-to-box midfielder.

Meanwhile, no Rangers central midfielder averaged a SofaScore rating higher than 7.07 last term and John Lundstram's score of 7.24 is the highest score in that position during the current Premiership campaign.

He would walk into the Light Blues midfield as he has proven that he can perform at a higher standard on a consistent basis than Gio van Bronckhorst's current options in that area of the park.

Rangers, therefore, are now enduring a nightmare as his career has shown that he could have been a terrific player for the club had they not released him nine years ago.