McCausland came on in the second half and impressed in Rangers’ 2-1 win over Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday night.
The 20-year-old winger has caught the eye of Clement and it has led to opportunities in the first team over the last few weeks.
Thompson believes it is a massive boost for the Rangers academy that on a big European night, the manager turned towards a youngster and threw him at the deep end on Thursday night.
He feels that McCausland’s impressive showing will give everyone in the Rangers academy, the coaches and the youngster, inspiration and they need it as a club invest large sums in their youth set-up.
The former Rangers star said on BBC Radio Scotland: “The biggest thing for me is that at Rangers for too long, the young players haven’t been given opportunities to find a pathway into the first team.
“It’s great that in a game like this with so much riding on it, Philippe Clement has gone to his bench and his first substitute to come onto the pitch is a kid from the academy.
“Rangers invest an awful lot of money into their academy with a huge amount of staff and they have got some tremendous talent.
“What it does is that the coaches could go down to the academy at Murray Park and say, ‘Look there you go, young McCausland came on in a Europa League game and lit up the game. You have all got the capability to do that and there is a pathway to do it’.
“It’s brilliant for the younger players to see that in action.”
McCausland will likely be in the squad when Rangers travel to Livingston on Sunday for a league game.
