THERE seems an almost inexorable gravitational force pulling Lewis Ferguson to Rangers. The midfielder is currently under lock and key at Aberdeen until 2024 and continues to speak warmly about the club he alighted at from Hamilton Accies two years ago and for whom he has become an influential figure in the heart of the midfield.

Ferguson, still just 20 years old, is eager to lift silverware and may well do so at Pittodrie. Aberdeen, after all, have collected a major honour more recently than Rangers.

Should his career continue to progress in leaps and bounds, though, it feels close to inevitable that he will one day end up at Ibrox.

The inevitable comparisons with dad Derek and uncle Barry – two of Rangers’ classiest midfielders of the past 40 years – may well prove as much of a hindrance rather than a help during this burgeoning phase of his career.

Having spent most of lockdown at the family home, there has been plenty of scope for some father-son teasing about what Derek achieved throughout his career and Lewis’ aspirations to surpass him.

“I’m always giving my dad stick about his goalscoring record,” admitted Lewis after being voted the Double Tree by Hilton Scottish Football Writers’ Association Young Player of the Year.

“I don’t know how many he scored in his career but I’m trying to beat it if possible. I think it was about 16 or something. I searched it up and I told him I was coming for him. And he turned around and told me he had a league and a League Cup winners’ medal by my age. He put me right in my place. But I would also love to go and get trophies as well. When you see the medals he won, it makes you that wee bit more determined to go and do it yourself and experience that feeling of winning something.”

Ferguson is a fairly common Scottish moniker but in Scottish football it is a surname that carries a significant heft. For Lewis, however, it doesn’t feel like a burden.

“In other people’s eyes there will be pressure because of the name but it is my own career,” he insisted. “I wouldn’t say it doesn’t have anything to do with my family because they are there to help me. But it is my own career and it is me who is making the decisions.

“I put pressure on myself to go and achieve things so the pressure is coming from me to go and perform.”

Already he has established himself as a fixed presence in the Aberdeen midfield, his consistency cherished by manager Derek McInnes as the injuries mounted last season to others in that role.

Ferguson modestly brushed away the suggestion that he was now “the main man” in midfield but admitted he had enjoyed the additional responsibility.

“I had a good first season so I just wanted to kick on and be better [last season],” he explained. “I had a lot more responsibility on my shoulders compared to two seasons ago when I had Graeme Shinnie in there. He’s an experienced guy and it’s easier when you’re alongside someone who’s played at that level for many years.

“So there was added responsibility and pressure last year because Bryso [Craig Bryson] and Funso [Ojo] suffered injuries. That responsibility was going to come at some point in my career so I took it on the chin and used that experience to try to make myself a better player, a better talker and a better reader of the game on the pitch. I was playing alongside boys who maybe weren’t natural midfielders. It was a good experience having that added responsibility.”

Now he is preparing to return to what will be one of the strangest pre-season regimes of his short career as football adapts to corona-enforced restrictions.

“To be honest this is probably the longest I’ve been without playing games or training with a squad as I’ve just been training by myself,” he said. “I’m dying to get back, see the boys and just get back training and get that bit of normality back. I just can’t wait to get back kicking a ball.”