The Pena Problem

So as we all now know, Carlos Pena is officially back in Glasgow. As we told you some weeks ago, he’s been our player again ever since his loan at Nexaca was cut short, but as surplus to requirements at that point he wasn’t needed back immediately.

But on coming back to Scotland, he has posed a number of issues to his manager Steven Gerrard, and possibly some solutions.

Put simply Rangers have zero creativity in midfield – yesterday’s win over Hamilton certainly highlighted this. In truth we had none already, but Ovie Ejaria’s departure has absolutely categorically removed even the slither we had.

Pena scores goals. Takes shots. And gets into the box. He can even assist although it’s not a big part of his game. But does this automatically mean he replaces the Liverpool kid?

Gerrard has confirmed the Mexican is a problem, that his playing again for Rangers is a ‘long shot’ which bodes poorly for the former Azul Cruz man’s chances of even getting on the bench.

But equally SG has persisted with his 4-3-3 most of the season, and it desperately needs the creativity at the apex of midfield. Pena is the only fit contender in the entire squad to cover that role. There is Arfield but we can’t rely on his vision because playmaking isn’t really part of his game. He’s also not as technically good as the Mexican.

But Gerrard has said equally that Pena is costing him money, money he wants to put elsewhere and this does seem to indict the midfielder’s chances of featuring.

And yet, there’s no one else. Graham Dorrans is broken and will probably never be fit for longer than a month, and that’s literally all the manager has to choose from.

So what do we do with this £3.2M signing who simply never settled in Scotland and is alleged to have some lifestyle choices which bode poorly for his compatibility with professional football?

Your guess is as good as ours, folks.