Former Scotland international Alan Hutton has urged Steven Gerrard to offer Andy Halliday a new contract with Rangers, ahead of the versatile midfielder becoming a free agent.
Halliday last signed a new contract at Ibrox in 2016 following a successful campaign back in Glasgow, having returned to his boyhood side nine years after leaving the Gers’ academy.
The lifelong Light Blues fan’s terms are now due to expire in the summer, though, and the club are yet to place a new deal on the table for the 28-year-old who vowed to bust a get last year in order to earn another contract.
Any talks between the two parties not resulting in a new offer should not be overly surprising given Halliday has often been an outcast of Gerrard’s plans at Ibrox this season, but Hutton would argue that the £450k-rated man has qualities the Gers will need going forward.
“Halliday’s out of contract, will they keep him in? He seems to be favoured at left-back with [Borna] Barisic,” Hutton told Football Insider.
“I would hand him a new deal. I think he knows what it’s all about to play for Rangers. Whenever he’s been called on he’s done a job, whether it be at left-back – it can be difficult for players to be shifted about.
“I think he has, over the period of time, done well when he’s filled in. These are the sort of players that you need.
“I’ve spoke a million times about players with experience who know how to fight, work hard, knows what the fans want, puts in 100 per cent every time – these are the kind of guys you need in your squad. If it was up to me, I would definitely hand him something.”
Does Halliday deserve a new contract at Ibrox?
Yes
No
Gerrard has called on Barisic to start at left-back far more often than Halliday during the Gers’ Premiership fixtures this season, with the 27-year-old given 22 outings for 1,945 minutes on the field to the Scot’s six appearances for 360 minutes of action.
Halliday also had to wait 13 games between the end of October and middle of February to venture onto the pitch, with Gerrard leaving the 28-year-old on the bench five times and out of the squad entirely on eight occasions.
While Hutton feels Glasgow-born Halliday would deserve new terms at Ibrox, the natural defensive midfielder who won the 2015/16 Challenge Cup with Rangers will surely be someone Gerrard will look to upgrade in the summer if the funds are made available.
In other Rangers news, Steven Gerrard is ‘weighing up’ an approach to a 14-time international defender who is on course to leave his current side this summer.