Rangers loanee Brandon Barker has been dropped by EFL League One side Oxford United after being hooked at half-time on debut at the weekend.
Barker sealed a loan move to the Kassam Stadium late on deadline day and was praised heavily by his new manager Karl Robinson, who referred to the winger as an ‘incredible talent’ [Oxford Mail].
After sitting out of an EFL Trophy quarter-final just two days after the deal, the 24-year-old made his debut in a league fixture away at Doncaster Rovers on Saturday afternoon.
He started on the left wing but was substituted at half-time with the score at 1-1. The Us went on to lose the game 3-2, leaving them 11th in the table.
Barker was always going to need time to get into the swing of things at his loan club given his lack of playing time at Ibrox in recent months, but it was a disappointing start nonetheless and if he’s to make more of an impact in tonight’s fixture against Bristol Rovers, he’ll have to do it from the bench.
The Gers loanee was dropped in the only change to Robinson’s XI from the weekend, with QPR loanee Mide Shodipo replacing him.
Perhaps Robinson feels he threw Barker in too early and is pulling things back a touch to ease the pressure on the former Manchester City Academy starlet.
The player himself will surely want to get amongst the goals and assists sooner rather than later, though, otherwise he has little prospect of forcing his way into Steven Gerrard’s plans for next season.
Meanwhile, there has been more frustration for a group of Scotland-based Rangers loanees following a big SFA decision.
