Rangers have been inconsistent for good parts of the season, but Celtic’s indifferent start has ensured that Gerrard’s men are just two points behind them in the Premiership table at this moment.
The Bears made some wholesale changes to the squad when the new manager came in and also got a fair bit of advantage in landing some talented Liverpool youngsters. We believe, Gerrard can once again be a difference maker and he can bring in 17-year-old Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones in January.
Jones had worked with the Rangers’ manager before when Gerrard was the manager of Liverpool u-18 team. The former England captain had gone on to praise Jones heavily and even admitted to making his team play around this 17-year-old youngster. While working at Melwood, Gerrard had commented about Jones and said,”This team is built around him. He’s a top talent and he’s a top player. It’s important he gets on the ball as much as he can because he makes us play. He’s got that quality to create something out of nothing.”
The ability to create something out of nothing is what the Gers have missed so far this season as they are too reliant on building every attack from the wide regions. It was no surprise that Gerrard had recently admitted that he is going to be interested in bringing a no. 10 in the future and we believe 17-year-old Jones could be a quick short-term fix and he could be brought on loan at Ibrox.
The player had recently impressed in the preseason games, and one feels that he has the talent to make it at the top level at Anfield. This season the creative playmaker has spent his time playing in the Premier League 2 and Uefa Youth League, and with more game time, we feel the English star could be ready to take on the challenge in the Premier League.
Gerrard would be aware of his strengths and weaknesses after working with him from close quarters, and we feel Liverpool shouldn’t have any qualms in sending him on loan to Glasgow. Like Gerrard had mentioned, Jones’ best aspect is his ability to create opportunities in the final third, but the 17-year-old can even play in a more restrictive role in central midfield as well. One of the areas though where he might struggle is physicality as given that he is 17, he is still growing. In the past year, he has grown stronger, but the teenager still needs to keep working on that.
Signing him won’t be a long-term fix for the no. 10 position as Liverpool are only going to send him on loan. However, in a tight league battle, Gerrard needs to add firepower in January and who knows, this youngster can contribute and the Gers can finally stop Celtic’s juggernaut this season.
