Is Rangers summer signing in trouble?

One of the stand out comments Steven Gerrard has made about new signing Jermain Defoe is his willingness to switch to a front two to accommodate him.

Whether that be a 4-4-2, a 3-5-2 or any other suitable formation, the fact is Rangers’ manager considers himself having two marquee strikers that he wants to be able to incorporate together as a duo.

He has admitted Defoe could play alone up front too, but that will be fairly rare we’d imagine, in light of Alfredo Morelos’ importance.

Which all leaves the big giant massive elephant in the room that is Kyle Lafferty.

When Gerrard brought the NI international back to Ibrox, we do not recall similar rhetoric about switching to a front two to fit the ex-Norwich man in, or talking much about using him up front alone a lot.

No, that talk has only really surfaced having secured the England international’s services.

Which casts massive doubt on any chance The Bold Kyle has of ever making a real impression at Ibrox.

We admit it – his time in Govan second time around has been relatively poor, and seemingly beset with some off-field issues too. But Gerrard’s eagerness to discuss his plans with Defoe in conjunction with Morelos really does pour cold water on Lafferty’s hopes of ever being anything much more than a squad player.

Obviously a big club like Rangers needs lots of depth and competition, and it’s good we now seem to have that, but the fervour with which Rangers pursued Lafferty in the summer and the joy of getting him seems a distant memory now and for the foreseeable future we suspect he will just have to be content with a place on the bench.

But as long as it works for Rangers.