Even before Rangers boss Philippe Clement confirmed John Lundstram has received more than one Ibrox offer for a new deal and hasn’t accepted any of them, it’s become abundantly clear that the midfielder is considerably off-form and immensely distracted.
His performances have absolutely suffered on the pitch the past two months, and after his rip-roaring October to February, the contract situation has clearly overtaken matters on the pitch.
And we’re not going to blame him for that – whatever the deal is behind the scenes, having a situation unsettled off the pitch does not make for a happy player on it, and he is clearly not focused as much on Rangers and the end of the season as he needs to be.
Which is why, unfortunately, Philippe Clement and Rangers need to drop him completely.
You simply cannot field a player whose mind is elsewhere and Lunny’s now clearly is – he doesn’t know where he’ll be playing his football next year, he wants to be playing at Ibrox but he’s not getting the offer he wants.
So his mood won’t be brilliant, his mind is filled with uncertainty.
Rangers have to make the bold move to bench him now, and put Dujon Sterling in his place alongside Mohamed Diomande.
Of course you’re all wondering who plays left-back now with Sterling in the middle – well, that’s for the manager to manage because Sterling is wasted there, and Lunny is a bit of a lame duck in the middle at the moment.
Regardless of who would be at LB, Lunny has to be ‘rested’. His mind isn’t focused, understandably, and he’s not been at his best for some time.
And if Rangers supporters’ reactions to this breaking story are anything to go by, they are quite happy to see the midfielder depart entirely as it is.
LB? We’d put Ben Davies in there. He’s a left-sided defender, he has a bit of pace, and while we’d expect nothing from him in an attacking sense, he’d keep that flank fairly tight.
What’s for sure, we don’t want Sterling or Barisic there.
But this is all a sideshow – Lundstram definitely needs rested. Based on form as much as anything else.