Rangers allowed Greg Docherty to leave on loan in January and Hibernian FC were able to sign him. The midfielder has played just over 120 minutes of football for the Hibs, but the Scottish team seems to be convinced about his talent. Hibernian’s assistant coach John Potter has already hinted that they would like to sign Docherty permanently in the summer.
Hibernian’s assistant coach hints at Docherty’s permanent move
Potter recently said (Glasgow Times), “He is a good player. We want good players at this club. Obviously, he is contracted to Rangers [until summer 2022], we just have to wait and see. But if there are good players and guys we can think we can get in we would love to have them.”
Has Docherty run his course at Ibrox?
The midfielder barely featured for Rangers in the first half of the campaign. Docherty made four appearances in the Europa League qualifiers out of which only one came from the start. In the Premiership, the 23-year-old was only able to make the bench once, and he didn’t get to feature at all for Rangers in the league.
It seems clear that Gerrard doesn’t rate Docherty much as he allowed him to leave. In the meantime, the manager brought in a new midfielder in Ianis Hagi on loan. Given the quality which Rangers have in midfield apart from Hagi, it seems like Docherty has run his course at Ibrox. We believe that he could be sold in the summer.
There was some hope that the 23-year-old would be able to break into the Rangers team somehow this season. Docherty had impressed on loan for Shrewsbury where he managed ten goals and 11 assists in 50 appearances for them. He was a consistent performer in midfield and played in various roles in the middle for the English side.
We expected Docherty to play some role this season for the Bears. His ability to arrive late in the box could have been utilised as Rangers haven’t managed too many goals from their midfielders. However, one cannot blame Gerrard for not giving too many chances to Docherty as he had a settled midfield partnership of Steven Davis, Glen Kamara and Ryan Jack. Joe Aribo and Scott Arfield have also played in the middle, and the competition to start has been intense.
However, the signing of Hagi showcases that Rangers were on the lookout for an attack-minded midfielder and Docherty clearly didn’t fit the bill in Gerrard’s eyes. The player might feel hard done by as even after impressing at Shrewsbury last season; he wasn’t given a good run in the first team at Ibrox.
The Gers need to be ruthless in their pursuit of title and greatness, and they would have to take such strong decisions. Docherty is a pretty decent player, and we feel for his situation. However, with the midfielder not even getting in the match days squad at Rangers, it seems likely to us that he will be allowed to leave permanently in the summer. The Hibs already seem keen to make a move for him.
