Sport
Ex-Rangers and Chelsea talent spotted back at Ibrox training centre after PL exit
Brentford forward Nathan Young-Coombes was spotted back at the Rangers Training Centre – almost three years on when he left it for the Premier League.
The Rangers B team were hosting a special Brentford B side in Glasgow with the 21-year-old attacker starting the match for the English side.
It comes two-and-a-half years on from when Nathan Young-Coombes moved to Brentford from Rangers in 2021.
The England youth international had spent around two-and-a-half years with the Rangers Academy after stints with the Chelsea and Crystal Palace set-ups.
Rangers B face off against Brentford
Nathan Young-Coombes started the match for Brentford B but it wasn’t until late on that the Premier League side’s B team would make the breakthrough against a youthful Rangers side.
Ashley Hay dispossessed Rangers goalkeeper Kieran Wright to net the opener for Brentford after 77 minutes, before Ethan Brierley secured a 2-0 victory late on from the penalty spot.
Nathan Young-Coombes played around 70 minutes and can be spotted below in official snaps released by the Rangers B team account.
The Rangers B team included the likes of Robbie Fraser, who captained the team after being spotted in first-team training last week, and the aforementioned Kieran Wright, who continues to be routinely involved at first-team level.
Other notable starters included exciting young Welsh talent Josh Gentles and young English forward Archie Stevens.
Speaking after the game, B team manager David McCallum praised the youthful Gers side saying there were “some really top individual performances” in the match.
Nathan Young-Coombes returns to Academy
Rangers fans will remember Nathan Young-Coombes from his distinctive Sideshow Bob haircut which made him stand-out as a youngster at Ibrox.
But it was more than just his haircut which left an impression at Rangers with the young England forward part of the academy team which famously won the ALKASS Cup in 2019.
Moving to Brentford for an “undisclosed fee” in 2021 having never made a first-team appearance, Young-Coombes made his Premier League debut by the end of his first season at the club.
Being included in Brentford’s matchday squads in the run-in to the 21/22 season, Nathan Young-Coombes came off the bench for the final few minutes of a 3-0 Premier League win over Southampton in the May of 2022.
The following season Nathan Young-Coombes signed a season-long loan deal with AFC Wimbledon, but it was cut short in January after injury disrupted his spell in League Two.
This season, an ankle injury decimated the start of the forward’s campaign with Young-Coombes now getting back on track with the Brentford B team.
