Rangers were always going to be looking to add reinforcements to the engine room this summer but with the news that Ryan Jack is now having to see a specialist about his ongoing injury worries, it has become a priority area for the recruitment team.
The Scotland International himself posted on his Instagram account about his recent troubles and how a return to action can come soon enough, as reported by The Daily Record:
“Absolutely gutted to still be out injured, it’s been a frustrating few months, can’t wait to pull on this jersey again.”
Gary McAllister had revealed before the weekend’s Scottish Cup tie with Cove Rangers about the latest intervention in Jack’s treatment and hopefully his prognosis could be a lot clearer over the coming days as the results come through
“Ryan has been down in London seeing some specialists. We’re awaiting some of the results coming back up from that visit.
“We’re obviously just trying to get some further investigations to get to the bottom of Ryan’s problem, so we’ll wait for the results of that.”
With this in mind and Jack’s future uncertain, we need to address the middle of the park but it is too early to write him off and as a result we should be looking at players who could come in either cheap, or for nothing, and be sold if he returns to full health.
Vital Rangers Player of the Year 2020/21
Allan McGregor
Connor Goldson
James Tavernier
Steven Davis
The stand-out target in Scotland has to be Allan Campbell at Motherwell, he is out of contract in the summer and could be a player – like Jack – that can be developed with better coaching and an improved quality of players around him. If it doesn’t work out, or if Jack recovers his fitness, then there would be plenty of suitors for a Scotland Under-21 international with his qualities.
The other option, and my preferred one, is Dejan Ljubicic, another previous target who is out of contract and – like Campbell – is at a good stage of his professional development, the only difference is I’d expect him to be able to contribute immediately to the first-team given the level he has played at.
It’s not an easy decision for Steven Gerrard but, as we’ve seen this season, strength in depth is key to maintaining a challenge both domestically and in Europe and we need to add cover in a position where one player has missed 70 games over two seasons and another has played nearly 100 in his mid-30s – in both the short and long-term, this is a problem that needs to be addressed.