Reports from the Mirror earlier came out that Nottingham Forest CEO Ioannis Vrentzos had contacted Rangers to request Joe Worrall’s return. The Tricky Trees have gone through a managerial change, and they have had a defensive crisis at the back. However, Rangers manager Steven Gerrard recently said on club’s official YouTube channel that the defender is going to stay at Ibrox until the end of the season.
Joe Worrall has been inconsistent in his displays, but there have been occasions when the English defender has shown promising signs. The defender recently put in a fantastic performance in the Old Firm derby where Rangers ran out 1-0 winners.
Gerrard has been quite upfront in his approach, and the club fans would be glad that the manager has come out and squashed those rumours. It is certain that now the Bears are not going lose a central defender midway through the transfer period.
Worrall has often maintained that he is a Forest man and has indicated that he is just using Rangers as a stepping stone in his career. He had earlier said (Nottingham Post), ”It’s obviously nice that the manager says things like that (When Gerrard praised him) – but I’m on loan from Forest. Forest are my team, they employ me and pay my wages. It’s a loan for me.”
Comments like those would have made the club hierarchy and the fans nervous as it seemed like if the opportunity of a comeback arrived, then Worrall would jump ship without giving a second thought. However, after Gerrard’s latest comments, it is clear that the 22-year-old is set to stay until the end of his loan spell.
The manager has often used Worrall in big games and in fact, he handed the Englishman his debut for Rangers in the tough away game against Villarreal in the Europa League. The defender has shown promising signs as he is aggressive in his defending and often he sits tight with his man. However, he has been behind some errors which have often come down to lack of communication with his defensive partner.
With time, it seems like the English defender has settled in and it remains to be seen whether he would be the first choice option along with Connor Goldson in the second part of the season. All in all, this is a positive piece of news for the Gers as a return back to the City ground would have affected the manager’s plans, and they would have had very little time to look for his replacement in this window.
