If ever the word enigma was to define a football player, it’d be Rangers winger Ryan Kent and his performance in the defeat to Celtic proves it.
So often talked up as the Ibrox club’s main man, and a player who has been influential in this fixture in the past, Ryan Kent’s latest Celtic Park showing was a damp squib which failed to win over the doubters.
If anything, the lacklustre performance from the player our fans and our squad look towards to make a difference, probably earned him a few more.
Out of contract in the summer, there’s a roaring and quite tiresome debate about the Rangers star’s future bubbling in the background with that £7m fee paid to Liverpool hanging high over the 26-year-old.
But as Ryan Kent toiled once again, failing to provide the necessary cutting edge to the win the game, the performance proves Rangers need better if they’re to stop Celtic in their tracks.
Ryan Kent failing to answer Celtic questions
Whilst there is no doubt that the attacker has all the talent in the world, what we’re seeing at the moment is an insular player who does not appear capable of accessing it.
It’s not just a patch either; over the course of Ryan Kent’s Rangers career the winger has not delivered enough for the club in terms of numbers.
Rangers might be letting a player of supreme ability go, but a number of things are converging on Ryan Kent’s career and the winger might be better off flicking his way through Premier League relegation battles and Championship yo-yo teams where his low return can fly under the radar.
There is a distinct lack of cutting edge in Ryan Kent’s game and this is exemplified by the opposite in the Celtic ranks. This is the difference between the teams.
For all the big moments in Ryan Kent’s Rangers career, a return of three league goals this season is paltry for an apparent talisman with his 33 in 217 games hardly befitting the massive price tag.
The enigmatic winger has proven time and again that he cannot produce the kind of numbers that will win us trophies and even if Michael Beale wants to keep Ryan Kent, the evidence is piling up to suggest the winger is not the answer.
