As Rangers stumbled in the humid, frustrating heat of Luxembourg, it suggested that the club still need attacking reinforcements if they’re to topple Celtic this season.
The Gers huffed and puffed in the Josy Barthel Stadium but couldn’t break the stalemate, yet the Ibrox club still progressed courtesy of a 2-0 win in Glasgow the week previously.
The club will just be happy to get through – and whilst its early days in the season yet – the match indicates that we’re probably still two signings short of mounting a serious challenge.
Of course, the proposed loan-deal for the creative, tricky Ryan Kent stands as a considerable blow.
Steven Gerrard has confirmed [
Rangers] that as it stands, the move is off.
Jurgen Klopp had previously said Liverpool want to sell the player, not loan him, but Sky Sports claim the £7m fee is pricing Kent out of a move [
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Whether that means anything for Rangers’ pursuit of the player, who knows.
But it very much looks like Rangers will have to turn their attentions elsewhere, with a lack of that youthful, creative quality evident in the final third.
We need another attacking/creative player who can come in, take players on, create space and unlock stubborn defences.
On top of that, Rangers also need to replace Kyle Lafferty with a striker who offers something different to the side.
A physical, target-man type might not completely fit into the Rangers system as it stands, but having that option for stubborn defences will help the pragmatism of Steven Gerrard’s approach.
Whilst the Progres result is by no means the end of the world, it highlights the fact that we remain light in terms of quality in the final third.
For me, we still need another creative wide-player of real ability and something different up front.
Getting two players like this in won’t just beef up our squad, but they’ll undoubtedly beef up our title credentials as well.
