Mark Warburton has warned that the imbalance in spending power within British football means Scottish clubs are set to be preyed upon by third tier English clubs.

In a blunt analysis of the financial climate in which his club is competing the Rangers manager registered surprise that the process is not more advanced than it already is, but he expects that to change in the near future at a time when Wolves, as a Championship club, is reported as bidding £21 million for players.

“I’m just looking at the fees they are paying down south, that’s my indicator,” he observed.

“If it gets to the point where it’s too expensive for certain clubs and where they find value.

“I’m watching League One clubs bid £1.5 million for players, Championship players going for eight, nine, ten million.

“That’s the way the market is and it’s just started.”

He went on to suggest that the Scottish market is being protected by the failure to develop players as quickly as should be happening.

“I grew up as a young football fan watching all the top Scottish players down south. Top quality Scottish players and now I am being told there are no players in Scotland. I find that incredible,” said Warburton.

“There has got to be talent up here, but are they being given the best chance to be the best they can be?

“I look at Dom Ball and Gedion (Zelalem). Young players and they have been all over the world to Australia, the Dallas Cup, Vietnam, Singapore, they have had top challenges. Have our Academy boys been given the same challenge?”

The question was rhetorical and Warburton anticipated another in terms of the likely defence of Scottish clubs and their failure to provide similar opportunities for up and coming talent.

“Your next thing will be ‘we haven’t got the money’ but we have got to find a way of doing it and challenging the players,” he asserted.

“We have got to use the Rangers badge, the Celtic badge, Aberdeen’s badge, these are famous brands, to get access to tournaments that challenge the players.

“I was taking Watford to tournaments in 2007 with Real Madrid, Barca, Ajax, why aren’t we doing it here?”

Consequently invited to draw comparison between Rangers decision to allow Jordan Rossiter to represent England at the recent Under-19 European Championships while Patrick Roberts stayed behind to help Celtic’s bid to reach the Champions League group stages, Warburton expressed confidence that his player would benefit hugely.

“He went away, played 90 minutes and captained the team in the semi-final and we got fantastic feedback from the England camp about how well he did on the pitch and off the pitch,” Warburton pointed out.

“He led by example, understood the tactical side really well, maturity beyond his years. Great feedback to the player, he gets a boost in confidence, represents the club and we get a player back who is fit and in good shape. Why would you not want that? To go and play against those teams, like Italy, France, Portugal, fantastic.”

Doing so seems to have accelerated the youngster’s development.

“He is one of the squad that I would have no hesitation using,” said Warburton. “He might start Saturday, he might not start Saturday, but you saw on Tuesday, whether we play Joey, Andy, Jordan or Matt Crooks when he is fit, it doesn’t bother us.

“You have got to trust the squad. We made six or seven changes and delivered a performance, which was pleasing for us.”