The debate about whether or not Rangers should be signing a new goalkeeper is one that was settled last summer, the decline over the last couple of seasons of Allan McGregor has been painful to watch but his inclusion into the Hall of Fame might just give him the boost he needs to turn back the clock until the end of the campaign.
Encouragingly though, we have had a few decent names linked already, players with international experience as well as the best keeper domestically in Shamal George.
It is Jack Butland and Angus Gunn that are the most high-profile names though with the latter’s £13.5million previous transfer from Manchester City to Southampton catching the eye when looking at their respective CVs.
Speaking to GiveMeSport, journalist Pete O’Rourke reckons that it could be Gunn that ends up at Ibrox in the summer despite the fee that it would probably take to bring him to Glasgow but he might not be the only one:
“It’s obviously an area of the team that I think Michael Beale realises that he’s going to have to make changes to in the summer.
“Allan McGregor’s not getting any younger and still playing at over 40, and Jon McLaughlin has probably not grabbed his chance when he has played in the first team.
“So, Angus Gunn could be a good fit. He’s a good young goalkeeper, he’s not always been playing regularly at Norwich City, but he has got good experience of playing in the Premier League, so I think it could be a good fit for Rangers.
“As I said, I think that maybe more than one goalkeeper could end up at Rangers this summer.”
What O’Rourke has said makes sense, Jon McLaughlin has pretty much had his chance as the first choice keeper. He is a more than able deputy but he has made too many mistakes in the eyes of the fans to be accepted as McGregor’s replacement and, because he isn’t classed as home grown, he might be allowed to move on in the summer given his age and desire to play regularly.
George, at Livingston, has been exceptional this season but I don’t think we would have to pay over the odds for him so it might be that we are able to bring him for a reasonable fee, alongside Gunn, or Butland on a free, we would have solid competition for the number one jersey without throwing all our eggs in one basket – common sense, for once, might just pay dividends.
Butland would be free and hopefully McCrorie would be challenging .We don`t want or need a journeyman goalkeeper from Livingston .If we are ditching McLaughlin we need to improve the standard not replace him with another average keeper.
Don’t think George is a journeyman he was out on loan from Liverpool a lot though, goalkeeper is a unique position and some of them take longer than others to mature. He’s a very impressive keeper who had to step back from Liverpool to climb back up again and he’ll move to a bigger club this summer.