As reported by ESPN, Rangers have been linked with a move for Manchester United youngster Matty Willock this summer.

The Ibrox camp have been quiet after the fall-out of their humiliating UEFA Europa League exit at the hands of Progres Niederkorn but Pedro Caixinha is still hard at work ensuring he can blend his assembled newcomers into a team worthy of challenging for the Scottish Premiership title next term.

Having made so many acquisitions already this summer, the scope for big signings in the remaining weeks of the transfer window is limited. However. one or two more quality newcomers could give them real depth and give them that extra spark they need to find genuine consistency in the top-flight.

The link to Matty Willock makes perfect sense and here are THREE reasons why…

They have a solid defensive base, now they need the spark

With the additions of Graham Dorrans, Ryan Jack and Carlos Pena this summer, it’s clear that Pedro Caixinha saw the central midfield areas at Ibrox as a massive priority. The likes of Andy Halliday and Jason Holt simply didn’t get the job done last term and it was no surprise to see Halliday head off in the close-season.

All the players mentioned though offer solidity to the middle of the park and not much flair. They will work hard and be effective and in Caixinha’s pragmatic set-up could be stars.

They do need an x-factor though, a wildcard or a spark that can really give them something extra driving into the final third of the pitch against dogged defences.

Willock offers that attacking sensibility and has a real eye for goal, something he has worked on as part of United’s youth sides.

He was a big part of United’s U23 side last season

Willock made 42 appearances for Manchester United’s U23 side last season, scoring five goals and assist three more from the middle of the park. His form was good enough for him to be given a first-team squad number by Jose Mourinho and called up to a match-day squad towards the tail-end of last season but ultimately he did not appear for the Portuguese.

However, his number of appearances and contribution of goals points to a player who has consistency and the personality to become a key member of a side. At 21 he is young, raw and lacks experience but likely has enough quality to compete well at Scottish Premiership level.

With spells at both Arsenal and Manchester United, it’s clear he’s been rated highly throughout his youth career and the final piece of the puzzle would appear to be regular first-team football.

 Loan moves can work well at Ibrox

While Rangers fans are rightly a little weary of loan signings in general having seen many over the last few years, last season they did see how the process can be a positive thing after Emerson Hyndman joined the club in January.

Before their season really went off the rails towards the end of the campaign, Hyndman was one of the team’s stand-out perfomers and one of the few fans would probably take in the starting eleven for the coming season. Ultimately he returned to Bournemouth, but it proved that loan signings can be beneficial.

A similar move for Matty Willock across an entire season would allow the youngster to bed himself into the Rangers team and become a key fixture, in a similar way to what Patrick Roberts did at Celtic and everyone knows how successful that was.

With limited resources, Pedro Caixinha needs to find quality on a budget and if they are going for loan deals, they might as well target players from the biggest clubs in the world, like Willock at United.