Over at The Rangers, Steven Gerrard is feeling the pressure from a growing injury list and reverting to policy by demanding more money for further players to be brought in.
It’s that cry that goes up from fans, pundits, managers when there is a player problem at the Ibrox club. Get the cheque book out, sign some players to boost the squad. Someone somewhere must also appreciate that also means some shaking of the magic money tree to rustle up the funds.
Or perhaps some signings are achieved on lower budgets by bringing in players who haven’t played for a while due to a run of injury problems. But that would just increase the risk of losing some to injury when they arrive.
Like Leon Balogun who arrived with a long list of previous problems calling off at the weekend with a muscle problem in the pre match warm up. He was joined on the injury list by Ryan Jack, Brandon Barker and Alfredo Morelos. Joe Aribo, Allan McGregor and Niko Katic already feature there.
Another option is to take up some of the any offers for Morelos that are apparently flooding in. Select a deal from the A-Z of clubs signalling an interest perhaps. It’s quite hard to understand how The Rangers finances work to be able to decline offers and sign more players when an already loss making club is constrained further by the pandemic scenario.
Over at Rangers News they explain the position as Gerrard sees it following those injuries from the weekend match:
"“Look I can’t be anymore clear with Ross (Wilson) and the Board in terms of what we need.“They know that, I don’t think I have to go public and say that.“But yes, we certainly do (need additions)."
But while those demands are clear there doesn’t seem to be any acknowledgement of the financial difficulties in doing so. Equally there doesn’t seem to be much thought for players still at the club who may need to leave and move on, nor of using them to get through this current injury crisis.
You’d think that when bringing in over 30 players in his time at the Rangers, Gerrard might have some he could use. Instead it’s back to the buy more plan. There’s always Andy Halliday on a free though, so it’s not all bad news!