Steven Gerrard’s appointment as the manager of Rangers FC has brought with him speculations linking a host of Liverpool players, who could potentially land up at the Ibrox ahead of the 2018/19 season. Among the list of young talents is Ryan Kent, a 21-year-old winger who is coming off his loan spell with Bristol City.
The youngster has just managed one senior team appearance for the Reds and is not firmly within Jurgen Klopp’s plans for the immediate future. He even struck out during his loan spell to the Championship outfit Bristol City last term, being kept at home for the last 3 league games.
Kent started in 5 of the 7 Bristol games right upon his arrival but gradually fell into a few substitute appearances to being not even considered for the final squad.
Addressing his poor displays for the Robins, manager Lee Johnson said, “Ryan hasn’t done it to how we would have hoped in our team for whatever reason. He came into a club with big expectations and for whatever reason, it hasn’t quite worked as we would have all hoped. The squad understands each other and has cohesion with each other, it’s not always easy to break into that scenario.”
Johnson did not discount the player’s capabilities completely as he stated, “Ryan, let me tell you, is a great player. If you told me he was coming through our academy as a 20-year-old, I’d tell you he was going to be a £10m player in the next few years.”
Kent also faced a torrid spell with Bundesliga side, SC Freiburg in the first half of the 2017/18 season, managing only 6 appearances. He was recalled by the Liverpool management and shifted towards a more familiar environment to ensure his development. Sadly even that bore no fruit as the winger is in another one of his past dilemmas of choosing a different club to play for.
Kent served the 2016/17 season on loan too at Barnsley and registered 3 goals and 3 assists in 47 appearances for the clubs. He tied down his services with Liverpool to a 5-year deal last summer, before moving to Germany. Although Klopp is a manager who promotes young talent, it was clear that Kent would have a hard time breaking into the first team this season.
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However, the winger could find greener pastures south of the border, under accustomed presence like Gerrard. This is his final shot at proving his worth in the European top-flight and he pretty well could flourish if given decent minutes to find his shooting boots.
