Steven Gerrard believes a risky triple transfer call made last summer has worked a treat for Rangers [Glasgow Times].
The Rangers boss decided to offload several full-back options at the end of last season.
Jon Flanagan and Andy Halliday were released and Matt Polster was sold to New England Revolution for a fee in the region of £300k [Scottish Sun].
Nathan Patterson was then permanently promoted to the first-team squad and Calvin Bassey was signed from Leicester City U23s.
Patterson had only had a small taste of first-team action at that stage and Bassey had never made a senior appearance, so it was a risk to create a situation where they were the only like-for-like replacements for James Tavernier and Borna Barisic, respectively.
Gerrard thinks the recent performances of Patterson, in particular, prove that the gamble has paid off, though, and he believes he is now in a very strong position regarding his full-back options.
“It is a fantastic place for me to be in to have one right-back who is really experienced and a captain who is probably up there in terms of grabbing player of the year,” said the Gers boss [Glasgow Times]. “And then we have a new kid on the block who is raw and needs support now and development.”
“That’s where we wanted to be at the beginning of the season and the reason we moved certain individuals on.
“We want two experienced full-backs and two that are available to play and come in when those players need a rest or are unavailable to us. I am really happy with the four full-backs that we’ve got.”
With Tavernier currently out injured, Patterson is expected to start his second consecutive Europa League fixture against Slavia Prague on Thursday night.
Bassey has been less involved in recent months, but has still made 13 appearances in all competitions and has done well when called upon, perhaps with the exception of a shaky display at St Mirren in December when Rangers were knocked out of the League Cup.
Both players will soon be unavailable, though, with suspensions for breaching Covid regulations looming and perhaps when they are sidelined, Gerrard will wish he had just a little more cover at his disposal.
Ahead of Rangers’ clash with Slavia at Ibrox, check out our Predicted XI and our Preview Video on the Rangers News YouTube channel.
