Rangers are said to be looking again at Swansea winger Morgan Whittaker, having failed with three bids in January during his loan spell at Plymouth.
With the Swans’ Russell Martin looking close to a switch in job to St Mary’s, Whittaker’s position is more up in the air in Wales as Martin was the one to recall him, but equally, he only started him twice and for a 22-year-old winger that’s not really a ringing endorsement. Especially it being England’s Championship and not Premier League.
He was used as a sub 13 times, gaining a total of just under 500 minutes of Championship football, which is alright, but hardly stunning for someone to handle the rigours of the Scottish Premiership, pressure of Rangers, and potentially, European football.
Whittaker’s spell with Plymouth raised Rangers’ and Michael Beale’s attention, but that’s even lower in League One and with 9 goals and 7 assists in 31 appearances (21 starts) it’s not exactly ‘Ryan Kent killing’, albeit he’s on the opposite wing.
We’re not sure why Beale is so obsessed with getting this guy, we’re not talking about ‘potential’ given he’s already 22, but historically he does have a few England youth caps so that is a bit of a feather in his cap.
He’s a player yet to step up, yet to burst to life, albeit maybe he’s already found his level?
His numbers for Plymouth were decent, but doing decent in League One while not even being a guaranteed starter isn’t a huge fillip for one’s CV, and he has a whole 3 goals in 53 Championship appearances. Again, not quite Brian Laudrup.
And again, for the ‘give him a chance/criticising before a baw is kicked ffs’ mob, it doesn’t take a genius to notice the quality of someone’s CV – Jack Simpson was a ridiculous signing and we’re sure the same crowd backed him all the way till they saw him play.
And we don’t blame them entirely, we will support our players even if we have low expectations – and Whittaker would be the same. But we will call out a player’s career if it’s relevant.
Suppose they can’t all be Jack Butland.