Rangers Reward Lewis Stewart With New Deal, But Championship Loan Could Beckon Next
Rangers have handed winger Lewis Stewart a new contract, securing his future at Ibrox for the coming season while quietly setting up the conditions for him to head back out on loan almost immediately.
The club confirmed on 7 July that the 19-year-old has signed fresh terms, extending his stay in Govan for another campaign, with the club holding an option to extend that further by an additional year. The extension follows a productive spell away from Ibrox last season, with the Scotland youth international spending the 2025-26 campaign on loan at Alloa Athletic in Scottish football’s third tier. Stewart contributed three goals and three assists for the Wasps, even though the club ultimately missed out on promotion to the Championship.
Despite the new deal, there’s little indication Stewart is being lined up to break into Derek McInnes’ first-team plans next season. The new Rangers head coach has a known preference for building his squads around a core of homegrown talent, but that philosophy doesn’t necessarily translate into first-team minutes for every academy graduate — and Stewart’s development looks more likely to continue elsewhere, where regular competitive football is easier to come by.
That’s where Rangers’ network of partnership arrangements across the Scottish football pyramid comes into play. The club maintains cooperation agreements with several sides designed specifically to give academy prospects a competitive environment away from Ibrox, and reports suggest Stewart may already have a fairly clear idea of where he’s heading next.
With Rangers’ existing partnership arrangement with Raith Rovers potentially winding down, the club is said to be exploring alternative Championship destinations for its young players. Queen’s Park are reportedly in pole position to strike a fresh agreement with Rangers, and a move there for Stewart wouldn’t come as a surprise. Having impressed in League One last season, stepping up to Championship football looks like a logical next stage in his development.
Queen’s Park aren’t the only Championship side showing interest, either — Greenock Morton have also approached Rangers about a potential tie-up. Even so, reporting suggests Lesser Hampden is viewed as the preferred option for Queen’s Park’s ownership group, Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises, to back going forward.
Stewart’s situation sits alongside a wider pattern of Rangers investing in — and then strategically loaning out — its academy talent. Fellow youngster Luca Rankin has just signed his own first professional contract at Ibrox, and Alloa Athletic, the League One club Rangers are already partnered with, could similarly offer the right level of competitive football for the 16-year-old midfielder to continue developing. Rangers’ existing tie-up with Stirling Albion in League Two rounds out that pyramid strategy, and Stewart’s success during his time in Clackmannanshire is likely to reinforce the Ibrox hierarchy’s confidence in the model.
Several other academy names could follow a similar path out on loan next season, including Rydnn McGuire, Aiden McCallion, Calum Adamson, Max Cameron and Zebedee Lawson. Taken together, the recent run of contract extensions handed to young players shows a club clearly committed to investing in its academy pipeline — and it will be worth watching over the coming years how many of these prospects eventually break through at Ibrox itself, versus continuing to develop through loan spells across the wider Scottish game.
