Steven Gerrard was his usual forthright self when speaking after the 2-0 friendly victory over Nice at the weekend but surprisingly revealed where his next move in the transfer market may come this summer, as reported by The Daily Record.
As well as hoping to secure additional firepower for his forward line, he also gave clarity on the club’s position surrounding Nikola Katic’s potential replacement in the Rangers squad following his long term knee injury sustained in training.
The Croatian’s agent claims that his client could be back before the year is out, which is good news for the Gers gaffer but he confirmed that he will look to secure cover for him as soon as possible, explaining why academy prospect Lewis Mayo won’t be promoted despite impressing in France:
“We have the luxury of Calvin Bassey being able to play as a centre-back too.
“But I need to replace Katic because I need four good centre-halves if we are looking at what we are hoping is going to be another 60-game season.
“We love Mayo. His attitude has been fantastic and he has a really good chance. But I think he needs game time rather than to be number four centre-back.
“We will keep him in until we get the right one in and then we will look to Lewis out to get him 30 games for his development. But I have to be selfish with Lewis in the short term.”
Gerrard has already cut a lot of the dead wood from the squad and, rather than carrying out a complete overhaul, knows that fine tuning and adding quality to the first XI is this transfer window’s priority.
Christian Maghoma – formerly of Tottenham Hotspur – has been tipped with a move to Ibrox now that his contract in Poland has expired, but with the Rangers boss open about the position he is looking to fill, it would be unexpected to say the least to see any significant financial outlay for a player that might not play many games – unless an opportunity presents itself that is too good to refuse.