The Rangers backroom staff were spotted at Tynecastle tonight as the Ibrox transfer team took in the England U21s 2-0 victory over Scotland.
Steven Gerrard, Gary MacAllister and Mark Allen were all present to watch the young Scots take on the Auld Enemy.
But whilst Ross McCrorie led the team out and Glenn Middleton made an appearance, was there another reason they made the trop down the M8? Were they on a scouting mission? And was Gerrard looking at someone closer to home or someone from down south?
Plenty of talented English names in Edinburgh
The English ran out comfortable winners in the end. It really wasn’t in any doubt they would.
Whereas the Scots crashed out of qualification for the 2019 U21 European Championships against Ukraine on Friday. With this result the English just made it through the qualifiers unbeaten.
They sport a wealth of talented players who are already performing at very high levels. Goalscorer Reiss Nelson is at German’s Hoffenheim, Ryan Sessegnon was last year’s Championship Player of the Season, Tammy Abraham already has a top team cap.
But one player turned out who the Rangers backroom staff have been constantly linked to.
Liverpool’s Dominic Solanke has been perpetually linked to Rangers since Gerrard took over. Was Gerrard checking out his credentials against some local opposition? Many of the Scottish players play in the Scottish Premiership and Solanke is yet to play for Liverpool this season. A move is not out with the realms of possibility.
Scotland doesn’t have a bad pool of talent either
Scotland aren’t completely devoid of talent either. Whilst the English team had a stronger side, Scotland has some very good players.
Ryan Porteous, Billy Gilmour and David Bates all turned out. But there’s one player Rangers have been linked with recently who might’ve been looking to impress.
Motherwell right wingback-come-winger Chris Cadden was linked to Rangers last week. Was Gerrard also having a look at what he could offer against quality opposition? He’s out of contract at the end of the season and looks an interesting option on the right.
The likelihood is that the Rangers backroom staff were checking out both.
And while the Scottish U21s got beat by the English U21s, the Rangers U16s showed up some pretty impressive English opposition earlier today.
