Following on from the speculation linking Steven Gerrard with a return to Liverpool for defender Jon Flanagan, Rangers have this afternoon confirmed his arrival at the club.
The 25-year-old fullback comes in from Liverpool and he’s signed a two-year deal at Ibrox. He leaves the Anfield outfit with 51 appearances to his name having come through their youth ranks to feature in the first team and he has played alongside Gerrard previously. He can play both fullback positions so does provide options and he has one cap for England.
Having now joined up with the side out in Spain, he told the Official Site.
“I’m delighted to be here. When I got the call from my agent and then spoke to Stevie, it was a no-brainer for me. The size of the club and what the fans are about – I’m just delighted to be here and hopefully I can show the fans what I’m all about. I played with the manager at Liverpool, and he was a big part of me coming here. I obviously know all about the club, but Stevie was a massive influence on me coming here as well.”
Describing himself as a ‘no-nonsense’ type of defender he gave the obvious quotes about being excited to be with us and how he couldn’t wait to get going now, but reaction to his arrival has certainly been mixed with some fans just not taking to this signing whatsoever given other issues in the past of an off the pitch nature.
Fellow Liverpool arrival Ovie Ejaria has also now arrived in Malaga to join up with the group.
Really solid cover.
— Rangers Culture (@RangersCulture) June 19, 2018
Lucky if the guy has played 55 games in his career not sure what folk see in him
— Jack ???????? (@JackRFC95) June 19, 2018
High quality player.
He's a starter, won't take long to make left back his
— Peña Cartel (@Pena_Cartel) June 19, 2018
I won’t be cheering him. He’s not welcome at ibrox as far as I’m concerned. And I know I speak for a lot of people saying that.
— ???????????????????? (@SB1872co) June 19, 2018
He’s got his work cut out for him for some to take him to their hearts but there’s only one way of doing that in football and fans can often be a forgiving bunch for younger indiscretions.
“I think this is a fresh start and I think it a platform for me just to build-on. The past is the past and this is now time for a fresh start.”