IAN McCALL was thrilled to unveil Jake Hastie as a Jag and is determined to get the 22-year-old’s career back on track.

The pacy winger burst onto the scene as a teenager with Motherwell and quickly won a move to Ibrox in 2019 but has failed to make much of an impression in Steven Gerrard’s first team since.

A return on loan to Fir Park last season followed a temporary switch to Rotherham in the English third tier the year previous, and on both occasions Hastie found himself in and out of the starting XI.

The deal is slated to expire in January but McCall hopes that by that time, the Jags will be desperate to retain the wide player’s services and that an extension can be thrashed out, thanks to the good relations between the two Glasgow clubs.

“I’m delighted,” McCall told Jagzone, Thistle's media channel. “We’ve been working on it for a while and Rangers have been fabulous. It’s our job to try and breed a bit of confidence into Jake. I think he lost his way a little but anybody that saw him burst onto the scene …

“He’s still only 22, he’s got great pace and can play on the left and the right. He’s a big addition.

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“I’ve said to him that I’m not really worried about tactics. I just want him to get on the ball, beat people, cross the ball and score goals – that’s the hardest job in football – and just enjoy playing football.

“Hopefully come January he’ll have done so well that we’ll be desperate to keep him but who knows? Maybe he’ll have other offers.

“But the first thing he has to do is get in the team because they’re playing well and he knows that. He’s a good addition and as a young guy hopefully he’ll do really well.”

With Hastie approaching a crucial juncture in his career, the Motherwell academy graduate is aware of the need for regular game time and to feature in a system that plays to his strength – and he reckons his stint at Firhill will check both of those boxes.

“Thistle are going to be a good team this year,” Hastie explained. “They look strong and they’ve started really well. I feel like this is the right club for me to come to to progress.

“The manager told me about the club and the way he plays, and I feel as though I can fit in that system. Hopefully I can do really well for him.

“I’ve played against a few of the boys before and I know [Lewis] Mayo and Zak [Rudden] from Rangers.

“The Championship is always a tough league and this year is no different. But I feel as though we have a really good team here and we can really kick on.”

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With the transfer window set to close at the end of the month, McCall still has a couple of weeks to fine-tune his squad for their tilt for the Championship play-offs. The Thistle manager is largely happy with his squad but points out that there are one or two sizeable holes in his squad at the back – particularly after central defender Darren Brownlie was ruled out for the season after suffering a ligament injury.

“Most parts of the team are complete now,” McCall added. “I still think we need two or three more players but [chairman] Jacqui [Low] and the board will probably disagree with me there. Even if we get two – it’s pretty obvious where we’re light now, especially given Darren’s injury.

“We need two defenders but listen, one of our greatest ever managers – the great Lambino [John Lambie] – he always said he was two players short.

“The season has been great and the board have been fantastic. Rangers have done a great deal for us as well for Jake but we are short defensively. I’m very happy with the back four and their performance against Dunfermline but if you add Steven Bell to that, I’ve only really got five defenders. At the very minimum we need two in.

“These things can take time. I’m pretty hopeful have one in this week but the supporters will be sick of hearing me say that. We’ve worked very hard on it. It’s a lad that can play centre-back and right-back so hopefully that can get completed this week. Fingers crossed.”

As well as a new face arriving at Firhill, there is another who left last week: Mouhamed ‘Sena’ Niang, the 21-year-old who broke into the first team and shone during the first half of last season. A natural midfielder, Sena slotted in at centre-back until being displaced from the starting XI by the arrival of Steven Bell on loan from East Kilbride in March.

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McCall insists that Sena still has a future at Firhill in the long term but reckons that a stint at Alloa this season will do the youngster the world of good.

He said: “The great thing about Sena is that he was really, really keen to get out and play, he didn’t want to be sitting about.

“We wanted to give him some chances in midfield but in midfield we’re as strong as any team in the league. We’ve even played young [Kyle] Turner on the right but we know that’s not his best position.

“It is a great move all-round. It is a really good standard. Alloa and Arbroath are probably Scotland’s premier part-time clubs over the last few years so it will be great for him.

“Hopefully he will get a lot of game time. He’s been told he’s still very much part of my plans but the move is just to get a bit of experience.”