Norwich City midfielder Kenny McLean admits it would be ‘special’ to return to Rangers one day although his full focus is on making a big impression in the Premier League with the Canaries.

McLean, who is under contract at Carrow Road until the summer of 2023, has been linked in the past with a return to Ibrox where he started his career.

McLean is key cog in the Norwich machine under head coach Daniel Farke and the Scotland international can’t wait for another chance in the top-flight next season.

However, the 29-year-old admits he would like to return to Scotland with Steven Gerrard’s side before his career is over.

"I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t something I’d want to do,” McLean told The Athletic on the subject of playing for Rangers. “As a kid that’s what you want to do, play for your boyhood team.

“Right now, I’m about to play in the Premier League again, so I’m not thinking about it! But for me and my family, it would be pretty special. I grew up a Rangers fan, used to go to the games with my dad and as a kid in Glasgow, you support Rangers or Celtic and you want to play for one of them. So, I was on the better side.”

McLean, who is recovering from a knee ligament injury that kept him out of Scotland’s Euro 2020 campaign this summer, believes Norwich are far better placed than the class of 2019/20 to compete in the Premier League.

Once again, they take on Liverpool on the opening day of the campaign, but McLean insists City won’t be tourists in the top-flight this time around.

“Throughout that 2018-19 season we’re thinking let’s get to the Premier League,” he added. “Then we got there, just took it in and fell way short. That disappointment we felt, it never leaves you. For us to come back last year and do what we did was exceptional.

“Last time it was ‘We’re going to Anfield!’ Now it’s let’s go and show what we can do. It’s not about going to take in these lovely stadiums and ‘Woah, I’m playing against this player’. We’re there because we deserve to be there. That’s how we need to look at it; that we’ve earned our place back and now we don’t go there to make the numbers up.”