Rangers have a lot of expectations from Ryan Kent this season. After all, the bears signed him for £7m on the last day of the transfer window. Liverpool were unwilling to send him away on loan and Rangers made sure they qualified for Europe before splashing out the big bucks to land Kent.
A big mistake by Rangers by throwing Kent into the action early
Even putting up a challenge to Celtic might be considered as a failure for Rangers this season and only a title win could justify Kent’s big-money signing as Rangers had a decent amount of options on the flanks. Gerrard and the Rangers team management though were naive to start him straightaway after he was signed. Kent was in limbo at Liverpool, and he had missed some of their u-23 games as well in the summer.
Therefore throwing him into the match straightaway caused him a hamstring injury in his first appearance for Rangers in his second stint. He went on to miss more than a month of action after that. Even though he is available now for selection, Gerrard hasn’t been able to play him in back to back games.
Kent on his fitness struggles
Kent recently went on to reveal that he is yet to reach his hundred percent in terms of fitness. The English winger said (Evening Express), ”I am not yet (back to best). I would probably say I am around 85 per cent at the moment. I am still struggling to do two games in one week on top of training sessions as well. Once I get a run of games under my belt and get into the swing again, I will probably be seeing better performances, but right now, my focus is just on maintaining fitness. I can’t really afford to have another injury like that.”
He featured in the weekend’s tie against Hearts in the League Cup semifinal after he was not involved in the midweek game against Ross County. We expect him to play against Porto at Ibrox as Kent was substituted early against Hearts when Rangers had seemingly wrapped up the game.
Why does Gerrard need to be smart?
Rangers though have done well in the absence of Kent so far, and they have enough depth and quality to cope without him. However, a fully fit and firing Kent could take this team to the next level and Rangers will need that against Celtic to push them hard for trophies this season.
Gerrard will hope that Kent gets back to his hundred percent soon as the Bears will face off against the Hoops in a League Cup final on 8th of December. Gerrard will also need to be smart and manage the game time of the former Liverpool player until then.
