Rangers’ on-loan full-back James Maxwell may be impressing in the Championship with Ayr United but he knows only too well that making the grade at Rangers is another thing entirely.

The 20-year-old has looked comfortable in the Championship across two loan spells after he also starred for Queen of the South last season.

But with Borna Barisic and Calvin Bassey standing in his path to a first team jersey, he’s realistic about his chances of making an Ibrox breakthrough.

With his contract up in the summer, the talented full-back has accepted that he may need to take a step back to move forward.

He told The Sunday Mail: “I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll probably need to leave Rangers. At a big club, it’s always hard to break through. I knew my chances would be limited.

“There’s so much pressure, especially last season when they had to stop 10 in a Row.

“Borna has been on fire for the last year-and-a-half and now Calvin is doing really well too.

“I’ve just had to focus on my loans, making sure that I get game time and play well.

“I’ve always had it in the back of my head that if it didn’t happen for me, I needed to have a career regardless. If it’s not at Ibrox, I’d go somewhere else.

“I feel I’ve done what Rangers wanted me to do when they sent me on loan. So there’s a wee bit of frustration but I’m not angry. It isn’t keeping me up at night, thinking: ‘What else can I do?’.

“I’ve given myself the best opportunity and it looks like it won’t be enough for Rangers. That’s fair enough.

“Rangers need me to be at the level of Borna and Calvin now, so it’s difficult.

“When it comes to a matchday, these boys take their levels up a few gears.

“It’s hard to say whether I could play in Rangers’ first team or not. I believe I can but need to prove I’m better than Croatia’s left-back, so it’s not easy.

“Look at Nathan, he did everything he could yet Tav is still first choice.

“Nathan has been exceptional. He has literally done everything that was asked of him.

“He played and scored for Scotland, he played in Europe and Old Firm games.

“But he had the best full-back in the league in front of him.

“Nathan is a top talent and deserved his big move.

“He didn’t play as much as he’d have liked at Rangers which goes to show how tough it is to break in – even when you’re first-choice right-back for your country.”