A new dawn at Rangers under Steven Gerrard had a fitting inception when they dominated the show against Macedonian side FK Shkupi in the Europa League first qualifying round tie and clinched a comfortable 2-0 victory at Ibrox on Thursday night. The Light Blues are eyeing to reconquer the lost glory and makeup grounds rapidly to dethrone the famous rivals Celtic who grabbed a ‘double treble’ over past two seasons and determined to maintain their supremacy securing the eighth successive Premiership title.
Gerrard, the former Liverpool and England midfield icon, exhibited glimpses of an exciting brand of football in his maiden senior managerial role, however, he will be quite annoyed following numerous missed opportunities which should have marked the return leg tie as a mere formality, if converted.
Rangers, meanwhile, was dealt a massive blow in the market as Oliver McBurnie, their long-term transfer target, penned a new deal at the Liberty Stadium committing his future to Swansea City despite their relegation to Championship last term. The 22-year-old Scottish international was also on Leeds United’s radar, but the speculations are now put to bed as the young centre-forward is set to spearhead the Swans attack agreeing to stay until summer 2021, with an option of extending it for one year furthermore.
Gerrard is banking on Alfredo Morelos, nicknamed “El Buffalo”, who enjoyed a scintillating debut season following his summer move from HJK last year and notched 18 goals altogether to sort out the Gers’ striker conundrum. The 22-year-old former Colombian youth international will have a bigger role to play for this term, therefore, he needs to be more clinical in front of goal converting those chances he creates exercising his swift movements, skills and physicality. A competition for the place will uplift his game as well as improve him as a player and the decision of loaning in AS Roma’s excelling attacking ace Umar Sadiq is likely to provide depth and quality in due course.
McBurnie, however, would have been a better pick considering his experience in Premier League despite being utilized as a project player in the past two seasons. Although he spent the majority of his time on loan in the lower leagues of English football since joining Swansea City three years back, the Scotsman showed an impressive goal-scoring run last season as he returned 9 goals in 17 league games for Barnsley since completing a winter switch for regular minutes.
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Alex McLeish, the Scottish boss, handed him his senior international debut back in March as a reward of his stupendous form and the Gers made efforts to bring him in his homeland where he will be groomed, nurtured and prepared to compete for silverware. Amid an array of new signings, Mexican marksman Eduardo Herrera has been exiled due to his disastrous debut season in Scottish football and the Light Blues, as things stand, are likely to bank on Morelos and Sadiq upfront to script a revival under Steven Gerrard.
