RANGERS knew they were buying into Glen Kamara’s potential when he made the switch to Ibrox from Dundee. When he moves on again, his next club will do likewise.

The rise and rise of Kamara has been one of the success stories of Steven Gerrard’s tenure but there is still plenty more to come. The step up to Rangers has been completed in some style and the midfielder is surely now on the brink of moving to a higher level once again.

There is nobody at Ibrox that is pushing Kamara out of the door right now but his form this term – in the Premiership, the Europa League and for Finland - will not have gone unnoticed by suitors from England and the continent.

For assistant manager Gary McAllister, that is a compliment to Kamara and to Rangers. Finally, others are witnessing the ability that Rangers saw 18 months ago before they completed the bargain buy and clinched a £50,000 deal for the former Arsenal kid.

“Not only here at Rangers, where he has been fantastic and a pleasure to work with,” McAllister said. “But, for me, watching him play for his country as well, he is growing.

“The fact he is getting exposure here and in the Europa League, I think his form playing for his national team, I am watching him play for some high level countries and he is a player that jumps out of the screen.

“He can be very happy with himself but there is more there. Glen is a very talented young man and I think there is more in there. He is getting more comfortable at this level with every game and it is a learning process.

“He is playing for a team in a domestic league where we enjoy a lot of possession but come these high-level games there are times when the opponent is going to have good periods.

“That is a good learning process for a young midfielder because you are playing against top level midfield players.”

The latest in a long line of hugely accomplished performances for Rangers came on Thursday night as Gerrard’s side once again went toe-to-toe with Benfica and were left to rue the late errors that cost them victory for the second time.

Kamara’s goal in Lisbon three weeks ago was only enough to help Gerrard’s side to a draw in Group D. At Ibrox, a classy showing wasn’t rewarded with victory as goals from Scott Arfield and Kemar Roofe were cancelled out in the closing stages.

Kamara has proven himself on the Europa League stage over the past two seasons and that exposure, and the plaudits rightly earned, will only win further admiring glances from afar.

McAllister said: “I saw Brian Laudrup touching on that in an article recently and we, as a club, are playing in these high-level, elite games and Glen is catching the eye.

“That is par for the course at big clubs. When someone is producing that kind of form, you are going to court interest from others. That is just the way that the game is but it is also a big compliment.

“Come that moment, it has got to be a moment that suits us. It has got to be us that hold the aces here and we are not put under pressure to sell our best players.

“There is always going to be a moment, but as long as we are always in control of that. That is the main thing.”

The midfield three of Kamara, Arfield and Steven Davis were excellent in midweek as Rangers once again came within minutes of beating a side of higher quality and greater resources, and one which could go all the way in the Europa League this term.

There was no Ryan Jack, Joe Aribo or Bongani Zungu for the Light Blues at Ibrox but there was another testament to the strength in depth that they now posses as they took another step closer to qualification for the knock-out stages.

McAllister said: “It’s just having a variation. Especially domestically, there are times when we’re coming up against a low block and there has to be a variation.

“We have to try and fathom a way to break down a back-line and if that’s making an extra number with someone running from the middle of the park, it’s a big thing. If you can get goals from midfield, that takes you up to another level.

“If we start spreading our goals and taking the pressure away from just the front guys having to score it all bodes well.”