Former Scotland international Alan Hutton has backed Steven Gerrard to consider Matt Polster’s future at Ibrox, having rarely favoured the Rangers defender this season.
Gerrard had left Polster out of the matchday squad for 20 Premiership fixtures before the campaign was put on pause, with the one-time United States international only included in an 18-man teamsheet nine times, given minutes in six games and starting just three of his outings.
James Tavernier has often been Gerrard’s more favoured option for the right-back slot at Ibrox, with the 28-year-old earning 25 league outings to date, while Jon Flanagan has made 12 appearances but has only played 56 more minutes total than Polster has managed.
Hutton feels Polster may have slipped so far down the pecking order under Gerrard that the 26-year-old is now a forgotten man in Glasgow, and could be someone the Gers look to cash in on in the summer when the £540,000-rated man will have just the one year remaining on his contract.
“It’s a strange one, I must admit,” Hutton told Football Insider. “We haven’t really seen an awful lot of him, it’s difficult to judge and I’ve not really heard anything – he’s a guy who keeps himself to himself because I don’t really hear much.
“He came in out the cold and I wouldn’t say he had the best performances. You’re going from nowhere near it to being flung in for a few games and expected to be a ten out of ten – it’s difficult.
“It’s maybe another one that Gerrard will be looking at in the summer to have a clear-out and to get some fresh faces in.”
Given Gerrard has only seen fit to start Polster three times in the Premiership this term, the Liverpool icon clearly is not a fan of the 26-year-old right-back so it would be of no surprise to anyone if the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-born man was let go this summer.
Rangers may not land a lucrative sum for Polster, but his departure would free his wages from the Gers’ annual bill, which is the second-highest in Scotland’s top-flight and stands at around 83% of Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, St. Johnstone, Motherwell, Ross County, St. Mirren, Livingston and Hamilton Academical combined.
If Gerrard is to close the gap in the table to Celtic, he will have to have better players to hand, and the Gers cannot bleed themselves dry paying players who offer next to nothing.
In other Rangers news, Gerrard is ‘weighing up’ an approach to a 14-time international defender who is on course to leave his current side this summer.