Walter Smith loved a utility player, there was always someone who he could turn to to do a job and Rangers have their latest Swiss Army knife in Dujon Sterling.
The 24-year old was a strange summer signing, Adam Devine had shown that he can be trusted to cover James Tavernier and we had two left-backs as well.
What we didn’t know, until Philippe Clement took over as Rangers manager, is that Dujon Sterling can play anywhere, as shown by cult simulator game Football Manager.
Rangers have jack of all trades in Dujon Sterling
The highly decorated Chelsea academy graduate seemed only to be signed as a long-term successor to the captain or so that we could go to a back three when the situation needed.
A formation that, apart from under Giovanni van Bronckhorst, we have rarely dabbled with.
The Dutchman’s success with that shape in Europe was due largely to having Calvin Bassey being able to switch effortlessly between left-back and centre-half.
Signing Sterling on a Bosman was a smart move, even if we didn’t really need him.
He’d done well at Stoke City out on loan and Chelsea wanted to keep him.
Now though, we are seeing what he is really capable of.
Speaking recently, Rangers number 21 revealed that he had never played in midfield until Clement realised that he had ran out of options and put Dujon Sterling in alongside John Lundstram.
Since then, we’ve seen him play every position behind the striker too, a quality reflected by the latest Football Manager update.
For those that don’t play the game, each player has a set number of positions that the have played or are capable of playing and it is colour coordinated using a traffic light system.
Sterling has a rating for all 13 positions with eight of them being green and the rest a lighter shade of green.
In short, you can play him anywhere and he’ll get the job done.
Defensive midfield seems to be the position that his physical and technical attributes make him a natural for though, especially under new manager Philippe Clement.
When games need someone with a bit more guile, there are others who are maybe better equipped in the squad but his performances never seem to dip below 7/10 wherever he plays.
That he now looks like our best option on the right wing says it all.
He is a proper manager’s dream and Walter would have loved him.
