PROSPECTIVE Celtic and Rangers signings must hear talk about “surviving in the Glasgow goldfish bowl” and wonder if they have signed up for the equivalent of a tour of duty in Helmand Province.

Life in Scotland’s biggest city does tend to revolve around the fortunes of its two biggest football clubs and all the baggage that comes with that, but it is not something likely to impinge too greatly on the lifestyle of the modern millionaire football, cosseted away in some out-of-town housing estate and rarely to be found mingling with the proletariat.

Not that Emerson Hyndman would be too fazed anyway. The young American, a loan recruit from Bournemouth until the end of the season, has already overcome enough hurdles in his life to not have to worry about what four months in Glasgow might bring.

Hyndman left the family home in Dallas, Texas at the age of just 15 to move to London where he would become part of a talented youth set-up at Fulham that included Moussa Dembele and Partick Roberts, former team-mates now playing across the city at Celtic.

Hyndman, now 20, travelled across the Atlantic with his mum but when she headed home after a few weeks, it left this teenage prospect all alone to fend for himself in a new country. This, though, was everything the player had dreamed of, his occasional bouts of homesickness a temporary occupational hazard as he watched his nascent professional career take flight.

“I only realise it now [how big a step it was] because at 15 you don’t really comprehend what you are doing,” said the player who could make his Rangers debut in the friendly away to RB Leipzig this afternoon. “At 15 I just said I wanted to move to Europe. I think it was more of a pain for my parents really than me because I was all excited.

“But they were great, they wanted me to pursue it and enjoy myself. My mum doesn’t work so she came over with me for a month at the beginning. I then settled in at digs and the club was tremendous. Anything I needed - whether it was ride to the training ground or help at school - they would sort out immediately. It just made it really easy for me to concentrate on football.

“I say it was easy but obviously there were times when you were thinking about home or your family and I would wish I was there. But I would say those times have passed now. That was years ago. This almost feels like home now because I have lived here so long.”

Given he looks like a gust of wind could blow him over, it is perhaps not a surprise that Hyndman chose to pursue a career in soccer rather than one of the more traditional US sports. A family background in the sport also helped.

“Football wasn’t one of the sports you naturally played when I was growing up but my grandfather was a coach for a long time, and my dad played when he was younger,” he said. “My dad introduced me into football and taught me pretty much everything I needed to know technically until I went to academies. So I was propelled towards football. When I was younger I wasn’t the biggest and in a lot of the sports, as you can imagine, you have to be a big guy. It was something I really enjoyed and had a passion for.

“I'd watch the [English] Premier League when I was younger. In the States it was on in the morning so you'd wake up to it. I'd see all the top players and that's where every kid wants to be. To actually get the chance to do it, it's what I wanted to do.”

Fulham weren’t the only club on the tail of this promising 15-year-old. “It was an easier option than the other offers I had,” he said. “I could have gone to Liverpool or Sporting Lisbon but Fulham was a great opportunity. I thought I'd develop quickly there. It was a tough decision because each club had different things to offer. But I played for Fulham for two seasons in the Championship so it was the right decision.”

His summer move to Bournemouth has not, however, worked out as he would have liked and he arrives at Rangers looking for regular football.

“It's been frustrating for the last six months at Bournemouth but it's the same for any player,” he said. “I don't get angry about it. The manager, Eddie Howe, gives me pointers every day on things I'm good at and what I can improve on.

“But obviously it's hard when you're not playing. That's why I wanted a loan move, especially when I heard it was Rangers. It has to be the right loan. The manager at Bournemouth felt very comfortable sending me here. If he was unsure I'd have had second thoughts. But he was totally on board with it.

"I feel ready. I spoke to the manager and he said there is pressure at a club like this. Expectation is very high but I knew it would be like that because of the crowds Rangers get and where the club wants to be - and should be. I am comfortable with the pressure. I am preparing to play in front of big crowds - not just here but in the future. To get that experience is great for me and I am looking forward to it.”