Rangers have pulled the plug on a deal for Manchester City prodigy Kean Bryan in spite of completion of a medical and terms being agreed. Despite a return to the top tier of Scottish football a couple of seasons back, the Gers are still way behind their famous rivals Celtic who are on a run of seven successive Premiership titles, conquering ‘double treble’ over past two seasons under Brendan Rodgers and defeating them comprehensively in recent Old Firm derby encounters.
However, there is a ray of hope again at the Ibrox following the appointment of Steven Gerrard as the new Gers boss who is on a mission of reconstructing the Glasgow giants with 10 new signings already and are currently on the lookout for a top quality defender.
Gerrard, the iconic Liverpool and England midfield sensation, is enjoying an encouraging run in the Europa League qualifiers and seems to have figured out their burning issue of a defensive conundrum. He has roped in Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic, two young and talented centre-backs, who have paired in the heart of the Gers defence and kept three back to back clean sheets in European outings.
Rangers are yet to concede a goal in this campaign but Gerrard’s search of a left-footed centre-half is on, following Millwall’s disinterest to sell their defensive mainstay, Jake Cooper.
Bryan, the England youth international, was being viewed as an alternative. Both Rangers and Manchester City were in talks to agree on a deal only to be backed out at the eleventh hour due to Gerrard’s willingness of recruiting someone who holds a better experience at a senior level over the City starlet.
The 21-year-old defender had a couple of loan spells with Bury and Oldham Athletic in the English third tier but needs to flourish more before earning a first-team status for the supposed title challengers who are also optimistic of a vitalized European run.
The Ibrox chief, meanwhile, must add depth to the deep defensive line that lacks a proper backup of the current duo following Bruno Alves’ departure to Parma and David Bates’ egress for Hamburg. Gerrard needs to make some substantial decisions to address the defensive woes of his side and also needs to bring in a quality defender at the earliest as he has decided to block Kean Bryan’s move to the Ibrox. At the time being, given Gerrard’s search for a left-footed centre-half is not yielding dividends, maybe Rangers should have just gotten the deal done. Hopefully, this mistake will not come back to haunt them as the season progresses.
