Former Rangers striker, Billy Dodds, has urged Steven Gerrard to raid another Scottish Premiership in his bid to halt Celtic’s attempts at landing an historic “10-in-a-row”.
Speaking to The Scottish Sun, Dodds has singled out Lyndon Dykes at Livingston for praise after his impact this season in which he has bullied both sides of the Old Firm.
So what has Dodds said?
When asked who he thinks Gerrard should go for to bolster his attack, he said:
“I think Rangers should go and try and bring in Lyndon Dykes. They haven’t had what you would call a target-man for some time now and they missed that at points last season.
“He is getting better all of the time and he has plenty of years ahead of him.
“Dykes has all the attributes you would need to be a top player and he would get more chances to add more goals to his game at Ibrox. I have watched him give the best defenders in the country a tough time and he proved himself at Livi last season.
“Rangers only had Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe last season because they played with one up front. They need cover in attack, but that player has to have quality as well.
“There are gems to be had in Scotland and Dykes is someone who has the quality to play for Rangers.
“Boys like him don’t come around too often and I would be pushing the boat out to get him this summer.”
So is Dodds correct?
Dodds gives a good balance in terms of his judgment of Dykes, he isn’t suggesting that he would replace Morelos or Defoe but that the 12 goal striker would provide cover and a different option and, on that front, he is right.
Dykes caused Nikola Katic all sorts of problems earlier in the season and perhaps, most tellingly, he has also terrorised Celtic’s £7million centre-half Christopher Jullien, Livingston were responsible for them dropping points twice in the three games between them, not bad when you consider that they only failed to win four times in total in before football was called to a halt.
The positive aspect about Dykes’s play is that he maintains a similar level when playing against the other Scottish Premiership teams and can’t be accused of just raising his game against the Old Firm sides, 9 goals and eight assists in 25 games is a decent return and contributed to 41% of the West Lothian club’s goals.
Gerrard does need reinforcements in attack and Dykes would give a level of variety and another dimension to the Gers play, also, if the 24-year old swore his allegiance to Scotland instead of Australia, it would be an added bonus for UEFA squad lists should the Livi forward make the short trip along the M8 to Ibrox to ply his trade.