Scottish Premiership giants Rangers reportedly decided against bringing Charlie Adam back to Ibrox from Championship outfit Stoke City.
The Rangers team of Steven Gerrard already appears a younger, more dynamic version of the ones that have gone before.
Waning veterans like Kenny Miller and Bruno Alves have gone with Lee Wallace phased out, replaced by promising, up and coming alternatives like Umar Sadiq, Connor Goldson and Borna Barisic.
Unlike the reigns of Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixinha, where recruitment appeared to lack a coherent plan and often focused more on reputation rather than suitability, it seems that every player in Rangers’ current squad has a specific role to play.
The Gers, for the first time since their promotion, appear to have a clear, long-term plan under Gerrard and director of football Mark Allen. And this is perhaps reflected again in their decision not to bring Charlie Adam back to Ibrox.
The Telegraph report that Rangers had toyed with the idea of signing the 32-year-old Stoke midfielder earlier in the summer before turning to younger targets. Lassana Coulibaly and Ovie Ejaria have added energy and breathed fresh life into Rangers’ previously one-paced midfield.
Signing the clearly declining Adam, however, would have felt like a move straight out of the Warburton, Frank MacParland playbook – drawing immediate and inevitable comparisons with Joey Barton.
It would have made no sense to sign Adam on high wages and attempt to shoe-horn him into an ill-fitting system. Coulibaly and Ejaria, though far from household names, are far better signings which highlight Rangers’ revised and refined approach.
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