Rangers midfield has, arguably, been our biggest problem this season. Never mind having to play James Sands and Leon King together at the back, the lack of protection at one end and lack of creativity at the other saw us drop needless points in the league and get battered in Europe.
John Lundsram and Tom Lawrence looked like they were starting to form a decent partnership until the latter’s first knee injury in September, a subsequent achilles injury on his return to fitness means that it will be a bonus if we see him again this season.
Ryan Jack has struggled with fitness issues as has Glen Kamara which meant that the veteran pair of Steven Davis and Scott Arfield have had to line up against Liverpool of all teams, not exactly what Giovanni van Bronckhorst would have planned heading into our first Champions League campaign for a decade.
What that midfield pairing did highlight though is that our recruitment wasn’t good enough. They, at 34 and 38-years old respectively, shouldn’t still be Rangers players and it is no wonder that Michael Beale looked to address this in January although, transfer journalist Dean Jones, speaking to GiveMeSport, reckons that we could have done better than just Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin:
“They’ve also, in terms of personnel, struggled to find the right players to consistently play together. I think that that’s probably what it comes down to right now.
“They might regret not making an extra signing, I think, in that position; that’s probably the fairest way to put it.”
There had been rumours of a centre-half being targeted and Morgan Whittaker at Swansea City but he is more of a forward than a midfielder but, with Jack, Arfield and Davis all out of contract in the summer, you would think that it is an area of the park that will be targeted again.
Darius Olaru’s name has resurfaced again and it may be that the Romanian international is an option for the summer, until then, Beale will have to go with what he’s got.