Rangers have appointed Belgian youth guru Zeb Jacobs as the club’s Head of Coaching in their academy.
The 26-year-old arrives from Royal Antwerp - who Rangers faced in the Europa League last season - and Ross Wilson has hailed it as another key appointment.
Highly-rated Jacobs will start work at Ibrox on January 1 and will arrive in Glasgow with a reputation as one of the top youth coaches on the continent.
And it comes after Dave Vos arrived as Giovanni van Bronckhorst's assistant.
Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson told the club website: "I’ve enjoyed all of my conversations and interactions with Zeb in recent months and I am excited about what he will bring to Rangers.
“With Dave Vos joining our team last week, we have recruited two leading experts in talent development and that can only be good for what we are building here at Rangers.”
“From the outset of my leadership of our Football Operation, I have remained consistent in my desire to work with Craig to push our academy and player development forward.
"We had to establish a clear Rangers coaching profile for how we will teach and educate our young players, and for that profile to be embedded in our football strategy. Furthermore, we have sought to align our football identity across all of our squads and the progress that we have made on that has been excellent.
"I am pleased that we have continued in our energies to evolve all of this work on an on-going basis and we will continue to do so moving forward, always looking to see what’s next for us to enhance.”
Head of Academy, Craig Mulholland added: “We are delighted to welcome Zeb to Rangers.
"Ross and myself, with the assistance of Michael Beale, set out to identify a modern and innovative coach and coach educator who pushes boundaries, thinks differently and would be pivotal in helping us create Rangers players who can excel in the future game.
"We spoke with several coaches across Europe before ultimately choosing Zeb as we believe his understanding of how young people learn and his creative teaching methodologies will allow us to develop coaches and curriculums.
"This will result in exciting, creative, 1v1 dominant players forming a Rangers identity. This appointment is one of the next steps in an exciting evolution of our Academy.
"We felt it was important that in order to produce more Nathan Patterson’s and to deliver on our new aspirational strategy, we identified someone who excited us and matched our clear vision.
"We look forward to Zeb starting in the new year and inspiring our excellent staff and talented players in the Academy.”
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