Rangers powered their way to a 3-0 win over Union Saint-Gilloise at Ibrox last night, a feat that was all the more impressive given the players that were either missing through injury or who were not selected but had played key roles in getting us to the Europa League final.
One such individual is Glen Kamara who was one of the first names on Steven Gerrard’s team-sheet and, in the latter stages of last season, Giovanni van Bronckhorst was deploying him in an unfamiliar number ten role – his strike against RB Leipzig to put us ahead in the tie justifying his approach.
This campaign though he hasn’t really got going and has frustrated in games where we have lacked a cutting edge, that he only came on for the last few minutes against Union demonstrates that the gaffer may be ready to move on from the Finland international.
Speaking to Football Insider though, former Gers full-back and RTV pundit, Alan Hutton, reckons that Gio will still want to retain the services of Kamara:
“I think he [Van Bronckhorst] will definitely want to hold onto him.
“There is no getting away from the fact that he’s a valuable member of the squad.
“I think if you look at the style of play that they played last night, it was attacking. The likes of [Tom] Lawrence in midfield, [Scott] Arfield who could break forward and try and make things happen.
“Of course any manager would want to keep hold of Kamara, he is a massive asset for the club.“
The issue with Kamara is that he isn’t aggressive enough to do the job that John Lundstram, Ryan Jack or even James Sands can do, isn’t as good a passer as Steven Davis, or carry as much of a goal threat as Tom Lawrence, Malik Tillman or Ianis Hagi. He’s a wonderfully talented footballer but there are only certain games – when it is more open – that he is a valuable asset – against a low block, as we have seen recently, he can be anonymous at best and a hindrance at worst.
There has been interest in Kamara and, as with Fashion Sakala, we could well see movement closer to when the transfer window is due to shut, if Rangers actually want to sell him that is….