Rangers remain favourites to add Daniel Johnson to their squad in the near future and one man who can give an accurate insight is former Rangers and Aston Villa right-back Alan Hutton.
Speaking to Football Insider, Hutton reveals what the 27-year old midfielder was like as a youngster when they were team-mates at the Midlands club.
So what has Hutton said?
When asked if he had the potential to hit the ground running and cope with the demands of being a Rangers player if he made the move to Ibrox, he said:
“Oh yeah, he’s down to earth, willing – when he was with me he was a lot younger, he’s 27 now so he must have been 21, maybe, at the time.
“He didn’t quite make the breakthrough into the first team but very level headed, down to earth, willing to work hard, trying to improve. He wasn’t scared to move on. Villa is a big club and he wanted to move on to play first-team football.
“You can see in his performances week in, week out he plays at a high standard so he’s definitely someone I would like to see in the Rangers team, in the Rangers squad and I think he would improve them on what’s there.”
So is Hutton correct?
Being a former team-mate gives Hutton the perfect opportunity to judge whether or not Johnson would be a success at Rangers, not only this but he is fully aware of the pressure that comes as soon as the famous Light Blue jersey is pulled on – better players have found it to be too big.
What do you think will happen?
Sign Johnson now
Sign Johnson on pre-contract
Miss out on Johnson
That he dropped down a level to get first team football rather than take the bigger pay cheque to play reserve football says a lot about his character as does his attitude to working hard, something that Steven Gerrard places high on his list of desirable attributes.
The £2.5million rated midfielder certainly produces that numbers that would make him a welcome addition to the Rangers squad, hopefully it’s a mater of when rather than if the deal is made.