Steven Gerrard has told wonder kid Kai Kennedy to find a new club after dumping the midfielder from his first team squad.
The boyhood Celtic fan has refused to extend his contract beyond next summer and now faces the cold shoulder if he can’t find a club willing to pay a transfer fee. If he wants to know what the cold shoulder is like he should give Micky O’Halloran a phone call.
Under Gerrard no starlets from the Murray Park School of Excellence has made a first team breakthrough- the youngest player to appear in the SPFL last season was Ianis Hagi.
Kennedy was tipped to be the biggest star to make the breakthrough since Tom Walsh and Andy Murdoch but after stalling on a new contract his future lies elsewhere.
The Sun reports:
RANGERS kid Kai Kennedy could be heading for the exit door – after being told he can find a new club.
The Scotland Under-19s winger – who made his first team debut in January – has a year left on his current Ibrox deal.
Gers had been in talks with Kennedy, 18, over an extension since the end of last year but it’s thought his demands now far exceed what the club are willing to pay.
SunSport understands that impasse saw Kennedy, who was training with the first team, sent back to work with the academy last week. Now the Light Blues have told him he can move on if a club stumps up cash.
After including Kennedy in the squad to face Hamilton in November Gerrard told the Daily Record:
He earned the right to be the 19th man. His training performances and his cameo against Leicester – I was thinking about putting him in the 18. All of our lads at the academy should take note of what he’s done this week. I think he’s been outstanding.
People look at Kai like he’s this wee player who doesn’t belong with men but he’s trained like a man all week. He’s been the most consistent and he’s a fabulous little player. It wasn’t just a token gesture because he’s a kid.
It’s also to send a message to some of the players who are outside of the 18 that Kai was next from what I seen the majority of this week in training. He deserved to be out there.