Is Ryan Kent worth £7M?
So tongues were set wagging yesterday over the big revelation around on-loan Ryan Kent, whereby the Liverpool winger’s fee was (more or less) officially set at the £7M+ mark.
The response, universally we have to say, from our supporters, was a big fat ‘no’.
Are they right?
The reality is Kent’s reputation in our shirt has come as a result of four or possibly five stonking displays – Rapid, Hearts and Celtic standing out by far the most. He was unplayable in these matches and single-handedly destroyed the opponent. It was thrilling, breathtaking and utterly adrenalizing to see a Rangers player lay several gloves on tough opponents and KO them.
On that form alone, in fact, £7M is a steal in today’s market. Anyone witnessing those performances saw some of the most dynamic, technically gifted brilliant and destructive wing display possible – he was unreal.
However, a handful of those performances from 37 appearances is not enough when the other 32 are borderline average.
We know the wing position is dreadfully inconsistent – to become a truly world class winger sees a level of consistency in performance the majority in your position cannot emulate. It’s what sets the Arjen Robbens apart from the Vladimir Weisses.
And that’s where Kent falls flat. His last truly great display was the 29th of December but since then? Some fleeting performances which flirted with being impressive but which ultimately failed – Aberdeen at Pittodrie in early February saw him provide two assists and some energetic play but overall he lacked impact in that match – and that’s been much the way since the win over Celtic.
In his defence, since returning from injury at the very end of last year he’s managed an outstanding 7 assists/goals in 8 league appearances, which in stats alone looks more than worth £7M+.
But James Tavernier’s managed a tonne as well yet few would suggest he’s Cafu either.
The problem ultimately is the price – we reported that Liverpool would expect around at least £5M, and with luck they’d give Rangers ‘friends rates’ with the obvious connections.
But the brutal truth is they’re not interested in doing Rangers a favour – it’s been the other way around. We’ll have more on that later.
But Rangers and Steven Gerrard have to decide if Kent is worth the money Liverpool are asking.
For Ibrox Noise? It’s a definite no.