Opinion: Rangers need better than Liverpool’s Championship flops

Another day, another signing. Rangers will complete a deal to take Liverpool youngster Ryan Kent on loan, where he’ll join his fellow Merseysider Ovie Ejaria in the ranks of Steven Gerrard’s squad.

We certainly don’t mean to write Ryan off before a ball has been kicked. He’s a Rangers player now, and he should get our full backing. But coming off the back of a poor spell at Bristol City, it looks very much like a making-up-the-numbers signing to get extra bodies in rather than a player who is likely to transform our fortunes.

This wasn’t the clout we hoped Steven Gerrard would have when it came to Liverpool FC in particular. We’ve seen it elsewhere, with the hugely talented coaching team and solid Premier League players deciding to make their home in Govan. It is no myth. Yet with the availability of talent from his former club, it seems that Gerrard’s name has not yet carried the weight we hoped it would.

Kent, like Ejaria, may well do a fine job for us. But they’d hardly be unattainable stars under either of our previous managers either. Presumably Gerrard knows them well and thinks they can bring something to the squad. Mark Allen will have surely given them the seal of approval too. But there seems little to suggest that either are going to be propelling us to the new heights we need to reach.

The failure to secure a deal for Harry Wilson and the continued struggles to make progress with Dominic Solanke seem to back this up. These calibre of players would be signings that could elevate the squad, befitting of Gerrard’s status among the Liverpool youths. It would represent a major coup for the club.

If we can’t get that level of signing from our manager’s former team, that’s fine and understandable. But it doesn’t mean that the next option is to settle for their second-raters. We wish Kent and Ojaria well and hope they can flourish at the club. But if they prove to be so many more Dalcios, it’s a bad deal for all concerned. We hope we’re wrong, but this looks like improvisation rather than a plan.