Exclusive: Brentford set to sign Rangers talent Nathan Young-Coombes

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

English Championship side Brentford are set to complete the signing of 18-year-old Rangers forward Nathan Young-Coombes. 

The English talent began his career in Chelsea’s youth academy but made the move north to the Scottish Premiership giants in February 2019. 

However, after entering the final six months of his contract, Young-Coombes is now allowed to speak to other clubs and accept pre-contract agreements to join other clubs in the summer. 

FootballTransfers can exclusively reveal that Brentford have won the race to sign the exciting, young forward and will make the deal permanent when he signs for the club before the end of the January transfer window.

Young-Coombes had been heavily linked with loan moves to a number of English Championship clubs last summer and was even rumoured to be joining Premier League side West Ham on a permanent basis, but remained at Rangers for the start of this current campaign. 

Despite having high hopes of featuring in Steven Gerrard’s first team squad, Young-Coombes failed to elbow his way into the starting XI and largely featured for the Ibrox club’s reserves and Under-19 squad during his two-year spell in Glasgow. 

The move back down south will undoubtedly be one Young-Coombes will be hoping offers more game time and a clearer pathway to first team football. 

Not so long ago, the young player agreed to join Rangers with the very clear intent of picking up first-team football in Glasgow. Yet that simply hasn’t materialized. 

“There was an opportunity for me to come and sign for Rangers and I couldn’t see a pathway for me down south,” he told the Glasgow Times in March 2020. “When I came up here to speak to Craig Mulholland, I saw the environment I would be in and that wasn’t something I was used to down south.

“I came here, everyone was so polite, made me feel so welcome and it is a very together environment. You can just be yourself and being yourself and being happy is crucial in football, whatever age you are.

“When you are a youth player and you are happy and you have a team around you, there is only one thing you can do and that is be successful. We have a young Reserve side, a young 18s side and there is only positivity running through the club. You mix with the first team, you see them around and can talk to them.

“There is no feeling that you are better than anyone else here. Everyone is humble and works hard and that is something you just don’t get all the time down south.”