Steven Gerrard has confirmed shock report about signing was false…

Steven Gerrard has confirmed that the recent reports that new signing Jake Hastie would be immediately going out on loan were in fact absolutely false and the winger from Motherwell will be part of Rangers’ first-team squad and very much in his thoughts for selection.

A national red top (or two) made the surprise claim a week ago, and us here at Ibrox Noise were beyond confused by the story – despite our initial misgivings about the signing itself, we had believed this capture was a player Gerrard intended to use, and therefore the stories about his going immediately back out on loan simply made no sense at all.

And time has borne that out – Stevie last night said:

“Jake Hastie has just walked through the door and this will be a big change for him. The idea now will be to keep him here, to get him used to Rangers and his team-mates. He will get opportunities to play and shine, then we’ll go from there. I’m delighted to have him, he’s got a huge future.”

Clearly responding to the tabloid claims, Gerrard explicitly says ‘the idea now will be to keep him here’ and that once and for all pours cold water over any notion the 21-year old winger will be going anywhere on loan.

Of course, this could change in January when a number of players’ careers at Ibrox will be assessed, as is the norm, and we are certainly struggling to see just how much play time Hastie will receive given the unreal depth and competition in his position – the left-sided winger can operate on either flank and on the left has Jordan Jones among others for company, while Sheyi Ojo and Scott Arfield are among the options on the right.

But it’s evident he’ll be given his chance and NOT be loaned out any time this year.