Rangers fans fume over new signing…

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Rangers fans fume over new signing…


After yesterday’s news that Liverpool youth winger Sheyi Ojo is looking like an imminent loan capture for next season, Rangers fans have been disappointed and angry for the majority, with a frequent question being ‘what’s wrong with using our own youth?’.

And it’s a fair point, isn’t it? It does seem a little at odds with club growth and the Rangers Development Company’s goals that instead of promoting a Serge Atakayi or Dapo Mebude instead Steven Gerrard seeks a Liverpool Academy graduate instead.

But, perhaps there’s a reason?

The MK Dons youth was taken on at Merseyside in 2011, and for his admittedly nomadic loans career, Ojo has still managed an excellent 13 appearances for the Anfield side, with eight being in the league. He’s even managed an impressive three assists in those plus a goal in the FA Cup. So this isn’t a lad who can’t play. In fact, he has shown way more promise than Ryan Kent who only ever played once for Liverpool in the FA cup and that was his lot.

Ojo has spent a lot of time in England’s Championship, and France’s Ligue 1, so many think it’s a nonsense to suggest we should automatically be promoting our own young players when there’s a prospect of this calibre available instead.

Or is it? Should Glenn Middleton, Atakayi and Mebude be first and foremost on Gerrard’s thinking?
Rangers fans’ general response to Ojo suggests they should, that we have enough products from our youth systems to justify their inclusion in the senior team, but if there’s one thing we can say about Middleton – he didn’t really take his chance last term.

Promising briefly beyond expectations when he first broke through, he burned out fast despite not being heavily used and has barely been seen since. That’s a player who wasn’t ready, despite management allowing him to try.

The fact is if youth is good enough, it breaks through. Ross McCrorie has had to be patient but he is very much first-team material now, but Middleton, Atakayi and Mebude may be a little further off.

And that appears to be a strong reason Ojo is on the cusp of a switch.

‘Why aren’t we using our own youth?’ – because some of them just aren’t ready or aren’t good enough.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Rangers youth players might do well off the bench but I dont think any of them are ready to be starters. Suspect the author knew this but news is slow this time if year lol

    • Well of course we knew this – that's the reason for the piece. Much of the fanbase doesn't seem to agree?

  2. Unfortunately we're not in a position where we can afford to be dropping any points if we have any hope of stopping the soap dodgers quest for 10 tainted titles. And with Stevie G seeing both our youth and liverpools youth up close, i can only imagine that he has come to the conclusion that liverpools youth is better and will give us the best chance of winning games. Maybe this Ojo guy is just that little bit older and that little bit more mature and first team ready.

    I think you're right IN, our youth are just not quite there yet.

  3. Very interesting article IN. The question I ask, is the player going to handle the demands of a Rangers jersey? 50,000 every 2 weeks, tough and physical away games, demand to win every game, give a required consistency on the pitch throughout the season, offer value and enhancement to the team to win the league and does he have a winning mentality within such a massive club.
    To date, only Alan McGregor has shown me those attributes. Therein lies the rub.
    It seems to me we are being used as a feeder club for Liverpool. First Kent, now worth 10 times after we exposed him to the world, now this lad! Are we being laughed at here! Gerrard is obviously a Liverpool man, it wont break his heart if Rangers get nothing for adding value to Liverpool players!
    Thus far, there is nothing to suggest to me that we will challenge for the league next season, absolutely nothing!!!

    • Or you might take the positive view and say for the next few years we are going to get one of the cream of Liverpool's crop on loan. Just as teams were getting used to Kent's style of play this could be a whole new handful for them. And sadly from what I've seen of our reserves this year none of them is good enough or ready enough for the first team.

    • You may be right Harry, however thus far, with all the cream of the youngsters we've had so far since we have came up to the SPFL have been found wanting and inconsistent. Why?, because Rangers is a totally different demand compared to the rest of the league, bar Celtic. We can't afford to have inconsistent loan players or have the time to enhance the value Liverpool players, just for them to benefit multi millions, while we are still not winning the league? If that's the case, put our own kids in and let them benefit from big games as we won't win the league anyway!

    • If we take on a Liverpool youth player and turn him into a £10m player then surely that is a good thing as it means he has given us a very good season. What's wrong with that?

  4. Ojo is a better player than anyone we have of a similar age. I watched him play fro Fulham a couple of years ago and he is very talented.

  5. I remember McCoist being lambasted by many for not playing our youth on the way up through the leagues. I was one of them. But if you look at those youth players now and see how they have got on, only a couple like Fleck and McKay have made it. So turns out maybe McCoist did know better than me and many others.
    SG may be the same. He may see out youth as still being a year or so away and needs answers now. We might be developing Liverpool's players, but our problem and focus has to be winning the league, now matter where we get the players from.
    So I will suspend judgement until I have some evidence

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