Cap call for Kent would not surprise McAllister

GARY McALLISTER believes Rangers star Ryan Kent will have caught the eye of England manager Gareth Southgate with his excellent start to the season. The 23-year-old turned in another highly-influential performance in Thursday night’s 4-0 Europa League win over Willem II in Holland. Kent scored his fifth goal of the campaign, won a penalty and provided an assist for Filip Helander as Steven Gerrard’s men set up a play-off showdown with Turkish giants Galatasaray next week. Signed in a £7million deal from Liverpool last year, the attacking midfielder was the subject of a £10m offer from Leeds United that Rangers rejected earlier this window. And McAllister feels there is a good chance that his impressive form won’t have gone unnoticed by Southgate either. ‘I would agree that he is very exciting at the moment and is playing with a lot of confidence,’ said the Ibrox assistant manager. ‘What I would say is that when he’s performing the way he did

against a team from Holland — Willem II are a good side who are in the Europa League on merit — then he must be getting close. ‘There is a push towards younger players within the England set-up under Gareth Southgate. ‘And Ryan is exciting. I don’t want to be shouting from the rooftops but there is a player here who is in really good form.’

Rangers head to Fir Park tomorrow, knowing they need to shift from European action into rebuilding domestic momentum after last weekend’s 2-2 draw against Hibernian at Easter Road. ‘Motherwell have changed their style in the last year or so — they are moving the ball very well,’ added McAllister. ‘It will be tough as Fir Park is a tough place to go. ‘But we are well-versed in this. We’ve now had two-and-a-bit seasons of coping with the Europa League. ‘We’ve had some really positive results in some tough places. ‘So the fact is the players have managed that previously. It’s a big learning curve for them but I thought that (on Thursday night) we looked like a team who were happy and who could cope at that level. ‘But we’ve got to turn the attention immediately to Motherwell as it’s a big game for us.’