Jamie Murphy is facing an uncertain future at Rangers, with the Scotland international not currently featuring in Steven Gerrard’s plans.
The 30-year-old was challenged to go out on loan last season to prove his fitness following a long injury lay-off, which he did, during a short but impressive stint at Burton Albion.
Murphy scored seven goals and registered an assist in just ten League One outings under Nigel Clough.
The winger’s efforts were considerably more impressive than those of most other Gers loanees and plenty of fans suggested they should be enough to earn him another shot at Ibrox.
Yet, it seems that Steven Gerrard wasn’t convinced.
Murphy was involved in Rangers’ pre-season schedule but since then, he appears to have dropped out of contention.
After earning a spot on the bench against Aberdeen on the opening day, he has been left out of consecutive Premiership matchday squads for fixtures against St Mirren and St Johnstone, while he also wasn’t one of the ten substitutes named for the Europa League clash against Bayer Leverkusen.
In wide areas, Steven Gerrard has used Ryan Kent, Ianis Hagi, Brandon Barker and Jordan Jones so far this season but the ex-Brighton man hasn’t played a minute.
The arrival of two further attackers in Kemar Roofe and Cedric Itten appears to have shunted him further down the pecking order and at this point, it’s hard to see his route back in.
With a bounce match coming up next week, Murphy and several other fringe players will be hoping to be given a chance to impress the coaching staff.
It looks like securing a move away from Ibrox may be the winger’s best option at this point, though, and after his impressive EFL exploits last season, surely there’s a club out there willing to stump up the cash to buy him out of the remaining year of his Rangers contract.
