Scottish Premiership giants Rangers reportedly made a big offer to Dylan McGeouch before he chose Jack Ross’ League One outfit Sunderland.
Before landing Lassana Coulibaly and Ovie Ejaria, Rangers made Dylan McGeouch their top midfield target. But they were left disappointed in their pursuit of a player who had shone in Scotland last season with Hibernian.
According to The Northern Echo, Rangers made McGeouch a ‘very attractive offer’ once his Hibs contract had expired in an attempt to lure their one-time youth-team player back to Ibrox. Instead, however, the 25-year-old decided to try his hand south of the border with Sunderland.
And he has already started to show just what a coup his signing could be – and what a talent Rangers missed out on.
“He’ll thrive on the way we play,” Sunderland manager Jack Ross told The Chronicle.
“I know him well, his character as well and that was one of the key things for me.
“He’ll take the ball all the time, even with 30,000 at the Stadium of Light. It’ll not faze him because he’s that type, he’ll thrive on it and get better.”
Ross’ comments pretty much explain why Rangers were so hopeful of signing the Scotland international this summer too. Steven Gerrard’s squad is lacking a player capable of controlling the game from the centre of the park, a Scott Brown-type figure if you will.
Ejaria, Coulibaly and even Scott Arfield are not the sort of players who will start attacks from deep and pick the tempo. Neither are Graham Dorrans, Greg Docherty or Andy Halliday.
So with Gerrard aiming to improve Rangers’ quality in possession and ability to dominate games, McGeouch would have ticked plenty of boxes. Rangers were consistently outplayed by Celtic last season with the evergreen Brown a class apart from any of the midfielders in blue. McGeouch could at least have given Rangers a player of comparable quality.
Their loss, however, is very much Sunderland and Ross’ gain.
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