Rangers summer rebuild under Michael Beale didn’t quite go to plan, veterans left as well as previous key players like Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent and it was a chance to re-energise a team that had grown stale.
Instead, Philippe Clement has to do a refurb of his own after inheriting a squad that is – in his own words – imbalanced and in need of work.
What didn’t help, is that Rangers allowed Michael Beale to sign players who were no better than what we already hard or who simply weren’t needed.
Rangers squad issues affected by Michael Beale summer spend
The money spent on Cyriel Dessers and Sam Lammers has been well documented, two players who now look destined to spend most of their time on the bench.
When £3-4m is spent on a player at Rangers, they should not only be starting most weeks but be an integral part of the starting XI, however, Michael Beale has had enough criticism for those decisions already.
What appeared to be neglected in the summer is players who Giovanni van Bronckhorst gave a chance to and who had proven that they could be trusted.
Not necessarily as the first names on the team sheet but in rotation or through the injuries of others.
Most notably, Leon King and Adam Devine.
Both academy products had been on an upward trajectory at Rangers under Gio but Michael Beale made two signings that saw them virtually demoted back to the B team.
Leon Balogun and Dujon Sterling.
Why Rangers went wrong with Balogun and Sterling
As we’ve seen with Ross McCausland, how can youth players develop if they aren’t getting any games?
Neither player has kicked a ball all season at senior level despite previously being considered as reliable backups as they continued their pathway to one day becoming a first-team regular.
Balogun has done well when he has featured but he wasn’t “needed” and he certainly can’t play 40-50 games a season.
As for Sterling, his signing didn’t even make sense stylistically given that he is a defence minded full-back who is also capable of playing on the right of a back three.
But because Michael Beale knew him as a youngster and had kept an eye on him, he wanted to bring him to Rangers.
They are both good players but this is why we need a director of football in place because they simply wouldn’t allow these decisions when building a squad.
Sterling is on £22,000 per week and Balogun £8,000 per week according to Salary Sport for two back up players that we already had cover for.
That money could have been spent on a starting winger on £30,000 per week.
Philippe Clement, as he alluded to earlier this week, now has to put right for Rangers what Michael Beale was allowed to get wrong but it is areas like this where improvements have to be made in the future.
