Steven Gerrard’s defensive options are as high as they’ve been in some time, but there’s an interesting sub-plot brewing.
Into the final stages of the transfer window, Gerrard correctly brought two centre-backs in. These are Joe Worrall and Gareth McAuley respectively.
Worrall arrived on-loan from Nottingham Forest having fallen out of favour in Aitor Karanka’s plans. McAuley, meanwhile, came on a free-transfer after his release from West Bromwich Albion at the end of the season.
This leaves Gerrard with a big decision to make when either Connor Goldson or Nikola Katic pick up a knock. The pair are Rangers’ first-choice centre-backs at the moment, and that won’t change any-time soon.
There will be a time, however, where the Rangers manager will have to make a decision on who comes in as cover. It’ll all come down to Worrall vs McAuley.
A nice problem to have
At face value, it seems a lovely little problem to have for the Rangers manager. Worrall captained his country to the Toulon Tournament last year for England Under-21s. He’s a no-nonsense centre-back with plenty of potential in him to grow into a top player.
On the other hand, you have the veteran McAuley who’s been there and done it. The former West Brom man has managed to collect 79 caps for Northern Ireland, and there’s still more to come. He’s played at major international competitions as well as the English Premier League.
Gerrard, however, has promised Karanka that Worrall will get plenty of game-time this season. It’s difficult to see how that’s going to come about. Goldson and Katic simply can’t be dropped to accommodate an unproven player in Worrall. It could be the case, however, that Gerrard will only play him when his defenders need a rest.
This seems to initially leap him over McAuley in terms of selection. But it’s difficult to imagine the veteran centre-back came to Rangers to settle for fourth-choice.
The Rangers manager hasn’t intimated who’s ahead of who in the pecking order. Both men have their arguments for being in the squad, and who Gerrard sides with will be interesting.
Regardless, it beats having to chose between Fabio Cardoso and Russell Martin. Rangers have better options this season, but it’s certainly shaping up to be an interesting battle.
