Jordan Jones sealed his Rangers exit at the weekend with a temporary move to Sunderland and he will be thankful that he has been given a chance to get his career back on track.
Speaking to Football Insider, Noel Whelan reckons that the Northern Ireland international is lucky that he has been able to get a decent club.
So what has Whelan said?
When asked to reflect on the move after his high profile misdemeanour earlier in the season, he said:
“I think Rangers are happy to get him out the club now.
“He’s very fortunate that he’s got a club like Sunderland that are willing to take him on and trust him because he’s obviously lost the trust of the manager and the club with the way he has behaved and offered nothing in the season, you can’t have players like that at your football club.
“They’re trying to bring in a different culture at Rangers and you can see that. These are the sort of players that they don’t want to have at the football club, where you can’t trust them.
“It’s alright watching them at the ground but you’ve got to turn into a man and be trusting them off the field while you’ve not got eyes on them. Clearly, he’s let the club down and let himself down, so I think both will be very happy.
“I think he’ll be very happy he’s got a club willing to place trust in him, where he can rebuild his career again and Rangers happy to get somebody off the books they can’t trust and don’t want at the football club.”
So is Whelan correct?
Absolutely, Steven Gerrard has publicly offered an olive branch to Jones, however, if he didn’t, he would be devaluing his own player and lessening the chances of getting a decent fee for him.
Will Jones be back?
Yes
No
Playing for Sunderland gets the winger in the shop window and, having arrived on a free transfer, securing anything near his transfer value would be a good deal.
His time at Rangers has been a frustrating one, flashes of genuine brilliance and real match-winning performances interspersed with idiocy, unfortunately, the chances of him getting the chance to shine in Light Blue again are slim to none.