Rangers have toiled at left-back all season and lack a quality option in the position, but would retaining the services of Welsh international Declan John have solved the issue?
Now at Swansea, the former Cardiff man had a spell in Glasgow last season. Originally signed on-loan in the August of 2017, the deal was made permanent by December that year.
But after signing a three-and-a-half-year deal at the club, John was quickly moved on in the summer.
Still only 23, the player was undoubtedly a little rough around the edges. But he showed real flashes of his attacking prowess on the left, and at times the underrated full-back looked the solution to a position we’ve struggled in since Lee Wallace’s injury issues.
It looked like the club had a positive, youthful international option in Declan John. At the beginning of the season, he was in with a shout of being our first-choice left-back.
But when Swansea came knocking,
Rangers cashed in. Rangers had also just signed the much-maligned Borna Barisic.
The clear hope was that Barisic would come in and make the berth his own. But the Croatian international has toiled in Glasgow and has spent much of his spell at Ibrox either injured or looking very out of his depth.
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We sacrificed the place of a young international player for someone who has struggled to settle. It’s a risk that so far hasn’t paid off.
But had we retained Declan John, even as a back-up, would we have had such an issue at left-back this season?
