It has been quite evident that Rangers want to sign Ryan Kent again, but they have been priced out of a permanent move. Jurgen Klopp dropped a bomb a few weeks earlier as he claimed that Kent wouldn’t be allowed to go on loan. Klopp said (Liverpool Echo), ”The time is over giving him on loan. At a specific age, a player needs to find a place to settle and stuff like this.”
Kent wasn’t involved in the matchday squad against Norwich City. If he didn’t get involved there, then it is unlikely that he would find any game time this season. FA Cup and Carabao Cup seem the only game where Kent might get a chance.
Moreover, Klopp allowed Harry Wilson to leave on loan to Bournemouth even though he claimed with Kent that a player of his age should be settled at a particular club. Both of them are 22, so we don’t really get why he wouldn’t want Kent to go on loan and improve further.
The English winger is likely to play for Liverpool’s development side, and the Reds hierarchy would be making a big mistake by not allowing him to progress for another year. Mind you Kent wasn’t considered to be even half as good before his stint with Rangers as he had underwhelming loan spells in the Championship before. Many believed that he wouldn’t be able to make it big. Cut to one good year with the Gers, Liverpool have now priced him at £10m. Before the Rangers spell, Kent wouldn’t have been rated even at £3-4m.
Sometimes players just click under a certain manager, and that is what happened with Kent. He started off slowly but soon earned his place in the starting eleven. By the time he left the club, he had become a fan favourite and even earned a cult following for taking a jab at Scott Brown.
Liverpool needs to realise that maybe another year at Rangers can add more value to Kent. If Liverpool have plans to play him in the first team then it’s well and good. However, it would be unfair to make him play for a development squad when he can play in European competitions and play in front of crowds of 50,000 week in week out.
Klopp shouldn’t take that away from the player. He needs to realise that if no permanent suitors come in then sending him to Rangers on loan would be the right move. Gerrard has already indicated that he is willing to wait until the last second to get the Englishman again at Ibrox.
