Steven Gerrard has called time on Ovie Ejaria’s career at Rangers, just days after also confirming the exit of flop striker Umar Sadiq’s return to Roma.
The club confirmed in a statement yesterday evening that Ejaria would return to Liverpool immediately having not settled well in Scotland over the last few months.
The 21-year-old was actually one of the most familiar faces in the Gers team this season, with Connor Goldson, Alfredo Morelos and James Tavernier being the only outfield players to make more than his 28 appearances.
His form has seriously dipped over the last few weeks though, with many fans left looking for more from the player.
Gerrard spoke at length about Ejaria’s situation on Friday, telling The Daily Mail:
Ovie is a very quiet kid, he doesn’t give you much. I might have to dig deep to try and find out what’s going on.
He’s a young kid, he’s living away from his family. There might be other stuff going on in his life that I’m not aware of yet.
The reality is he’s a Liverpool player and Liverpool have almost got to take charge of this.
Yes, we’ve got a loan situation with Ovie but we wouldn’t keep a kid who was unhappy. I wouldn’t stand in any kid’s way whether he was signed with us or on loan.
Clearly it’s never nice to see moves to Ibrox not work out, but it’s clear the club have taken the right approach with regards to both Ejaria and Umar Sadiq. There is no point in prolonging their stays in Glasgow with neither showing signs of progress.
It also frees up room in the squad ahead of the January transfer window, a month that Gerrard has made clear he’s looking for a bit of quality from.
The manager will now have to find a winning combination in midfield, with perhaps Ross McCrorie now to be trust with more first-team action.
We’ll find out more on that with today’s team selection against Hamilton.