Ross Wilson told fans that he was “relaxed” with the contract situation at Rangers, and you’d have to assume that meant the established first-team players as well as those on the fringes.
One player who falls under the latter category is James Maxwell, a Vital Rangers favourite, who has performed admirably when he has been sent out on loan but now admits that he faces an uphill battle to save his career at the club, as told to The Sunday Mail:
“I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll probably need to leave Rangers. At a big club, it’s always hard to break through. I knew my chances would be limited.
“I feel I’ve done what Rangers wanted me to do when they sent me on loan. So there’s a wee bit of frustration but I’m not angry. It isn’t keeping me up at night, thinking: ‘What else can I do?’.
“I’ve given myself the best opportunity and it looks like it won’t be enough for Rangers. That’s fair enough.
“Rangers need me to be at the level of Borna and Calvin now, so it’s difficult.
“When it comes to a match day, these boys take their levels up a few gears.”
A couple of seasons ago Maxwell probably would have stood a great chance of getting game time but with the emergence of Calvin Bassey as cover for Borna Barisic, we have two left-backs who are of an excellent standard and there is no shame in him not being able to force his way past them, after all, as Maxwell also said, Nathan Patterson is first choice for his country and still couldn’t get in the team.
Maxwell’s status and lack of appearances in the first XI doesn’t make him any less talented a player and he can hold his head up with how well he has done out on loan, that Leeds United are credited with an interest says it all about how highly rated he is by others.
Personally, I’d like Maxwell to be offered another contract and sent on loan at a higher level, after all, Barisic and Bassey won’t be here forever and who better to make the step up than one of our own.