Rangers have been utterly mediocre and unconvincing this season after getting back to the Scottish top flight. The Gers have accumulated merely 64 points from 34 outings in the Scottish Premiership and have seemingly appeared to be miles behind their arch rivals, Celtic. Although they might not have crumbled like a house of cards, they haven’t inked anything galvanising either. Further, Pedro Caixinha’s reign at the Ibrox Stadium hasn’t kicked out in a fascinating manner as well and the Portuguese is indeed facing the heat which is bound to get much more hostile in the next campaign.
Apart from making necessary quality additions over the course of the summer, Caixinha would need to hand new deals to the deserving candidates and extend their tenure at the Glasgow-based club. He needs to create a core team for himself and strive to derive the best out of the youngsters in particular (something which Brendan Rodgers has done with Celtic). Barrie McKay has been the talk of the town of late owing to the questionable state of his contractual situation. With just a year left on his ongoing contract, McKay is yet to be handed a new deal by the Light Blues and this is unarguably something they should sort out at the earliest.
The 22-year-old is one of the hottest properties in Scottish football owing to the dazzling attacking flamboyance he offers. A player who can play as a central attacking midfielder as well as on either flank, he has carved a fine reputation for himself this season with the Teddy Bears. He scored the winning goal in last weekend’s 2-1 win over Hearts and has expressed his desire to stay with the Rangers. In 33 appearances this season, the Scot has banged 5 goals and his development is going in a perfectly fine manner and it needs to be backed properly by the club for their own benefit.
McKay’s body frame might be a diminutive one, but he has raw pace, trickery and excellent control over the ball to belittle his opposition’s defence in the blink of an eye. He has shown his exemplary work ethic this season and his ability to dictate the tempo of the game and making defensive contributions have caught a lot of attention from the football fraternity. Given his age and his calibre, he is destined for good things and should be handed an extension by the former Al-Gharafa boss very soon.
