Graeme Murty believes Jamie Barjonas has the personality to force his way into Steven Gerrard 's plans at Ibrox.
The midfielder scored the opener as Rangers Colts reached the Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Cup semi-final on Saturday.
The 20-year-old, who signed a new contract in October, made his first-team debut in 2017 but has spent most of the last two years on-loan at Bury and Raith Rovers.
Upon agreeing his new deal, Barjonas was promoted into the first-team dressing room but featured under Murty at the weekend in the 2-0 win over Wrexham.
Murty insists Barjonas has the confidence not to be overawed by the step up and hopes he can push on to the next level.
Murty said: "We just have to make sure that we continue his development on and make sure that we put the platform in place for him to keep growing and improving as a player and then it is up to him to take that final step and really nail that final audition, if you like, in front of the first team manager so that he can take that next step.
“There are loads of different things [he needs to improve on] but the people that you really need to talk to are the first team group.
"The first team group have taken them into their changing room, he trains with them every day and they like what he does and like the character that he shows in dealing with the first team players.
“Let’s not forget, he has to go into a first team dressing room full of internationals and deal with the characters.
"He has to have a bit of personality about him and he has definitely got that, definitely got confidence.
“The first team will show him and deal with him in the manner which they deem appropriate to try and get him to that next level.
"It is up to him to take those lessons on board and continue his progression.”
