As he threatens a breakout performance, Ryan Kent needs to start delivering in a Rangers jersey.
The on-loan Liverpool winger has been given some real trust by Steven Gerrard. Since arriving at Ibrox, Kent has made several appearances down the left, and looks a handful.
Sunday at Rugby Park was perhaps the youngster’s best performance yet. Showing some real pace and energy, the Liverpool academy prospect showed real flair down the left.
Injury leads to opportunity
With Jamie Murphy now injured, the onus will now be on Kent to start seriously proving his worth down the left. Whilst he’s looked flashy and fairly creative during his early days at Ibrox, he’s yet to have a breakthrough performance.
Despite putting in some good crosses, making the odd assist, and doing some fancy dribbles, Kent has yet to grab a game by the scruff of the neck. What will be frustrating in this case for Rangers fans is that the 21-year-old has some serious ability to start doing that.
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The winger arrived in the Summer for a season and looked the part in his debut away to Osijek. Since then, however, we haven’t seen too much of him.
Kent doesn’t have serious competition down the left anymore either. Josh Windass left the club during the English transfer window, whilst Murphy is crocked. Daniel Candeias can’t play down the left. Therefore, there is no solid competition there for Kent to challenge him.
No competition
This can be viewed in two ways.
Firstly, you could say the fact there is no competition won’t spur him on as much. Competition is healthy and can bring out the best in certain players. However, Kent will be seriously itching to impress at Ibrox, so this shouldn’t be given much thought.
Secondly, Kent could see this as his golden opportunity to shine. With Celtic Park coming up in a week-and-a-half, the big games are starting to flow for the Gers. Kent could make himself a massive part of that with some swashbuckling performances down the left.
So far, he’s shown in flashes what he can bring to the table. However, Rangers fans will feel they’ve still to see him to his full potential so far.
Thursday night against Ufa would be the perfect time to turn the style on for Kent. Chances are he’ll start, and it’s surely only a matter of time before he turns on the style in Govan.