Following on from our assessment of Ryan Kent, next up in our series of Rangers Half-Term Reports is fellow winger, Brandon Barker.
The 23-year-old penned a three-year deal arriving from Manchester City in August, and it must be said that at the time, it seemed a strange signing.
Steven Gerrard had already brought in Sheyi Ojo on loan and signed both Jake Hastie and Jordan Jones, and would subsequently go on to bring in Kent on Deadline Day.
Unfortunately, so far, it hasn’t worked out.
The aforementioned competition has ensured that Barker hasn’t truly been first choice at any stage and very rarely has he impressed.
He netted a fine goal on his Premiership debut in a win over Livingston, and at that stage, there was hope that he would ably deputise for Kent during the ex-Liverpool man’s absence with a hamstring injury.
However, when handed a start the following weekend away at St Johnstone, he failed to influence proceedings and subsequently, has rarely been seen in domestic football.
The manager has shown a fairly significant amount of trust in Barker in European matches, handing him a substitute outing at home against Feyenoord and starts home and away against Porto.
During the clash in Portugal, he wasn’t overly involved in an attacking sense but worked extremely hard off the ball, and at least partially justified his selection.
(Photo by Diogo Baptista/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
It was a different story during the Ibrox meeting, though, when the Englishman looked timid and out of his depth and was replaced after 65 minutes.
For a player billed as pacey and exciting, he’s struggled to get past full-backs and looks reluctant to take risks on the ball.
Many Bears have been critical of him during his short stay and unfortunately, the most recent signs haven’t been encouraging either.
Both in the mid-season friendly against Lokomotiv Tashkent and the Scottish Cup clash against Stranraer, he didn’t manage to make a positive impression.
Barker played just 400 minutes for the Gers prior to the winter break, registering a solitary goal and no assists [Transfermarkt].
Clearly, as a player retained by Manchester City for so long, he has plenty of talent, but unfortunately, we’ve seen precious little evidence of that so in Light Blue.
Steven Gerrard has recently spoken of his frustration at fringe players failing to take opportunities and after a poor start to life at Ibrox, Barker may soon run out of them.
