Ovie Ejaria surprisingly didn’t travel with the first team for the crucial clash against Rapid Wien in the final Europa League group game. The Gers were already missing Ryan Kent and Daniel Candeias and not having Ejaria didn’t help their cause. Shockingly reports from Sky Sports indicates that the midfielder has gone back to Liverpool but is expected to be back in Glasgow by Friday.
In the pre-game interview, Gerrard was asked the reason for Liverpool loanee being absent to which the manager replied,”Ovie is slightly unsettled at the moment, I spoke to him a couple of days ago. We decided it was best to leave him at home and the plan is to talk to Ovie on Friday to see where he’s at.”
This is coming as a real surprise to everyone as not many expected this to happen. It seems like the midfielder could be in for an early return to the Merseyside this season and Gerrard might be having a crunch talk with the Liverpool academy product this week.
The 21-year-old has struggled with form in the past one month but has done relatively well since he moved to Glasgow. The midfielder played a crucial role in Rangers’ qualification to the main Europa League draw, and maybe he could have added a bit of spark in midfield in the final group game if he was in the right frame of mind.
Gerrard was so impressed with the midfielder in the initial months that he even went on to say that he would want to snap him up (The Scotsman) permanently. However, his form has been dipping for quite some time now. The manager is currently in a precarious situation as quite a few players who showed promise in the initial month have been performing poorly. Jon Flanagan and Lassana Coulibaly are on the same list and maybe even the reliable Connor Goldson.
The Bears do have plenty of cover in the midfield position but as seen from last night, the midfield doesn’t have enough quality to open up defences. Ejaria showed that he could play in the slightly attacking midfield role once in a while, but he was also found wanting on multiple occasions.
It remains to be seen now what transpires in the next few days between Ejaria and Rangers. The midfielder has even deleted all his connection with Rangers on social media, and the signs don’t seem right if we are to talk about his future at Ibrox. An early return could be on the cards but hopefully, Gerrard can manage to knock some sense back into the young midfielder.
