Steven Gerrard looks to be denied the chance to reunite with his former Liverpool team-mate Martin Skrtel at Ibrox giants Rangers.
Are Steven Gerrard’s best laid plans starting to go awry?
The former Liverpool captain took over at Rangers with a list of big-name transfer targets and apparently quite a large transfer budget in order to rebuild a squad that has underachieved since returning to the Scottish top flight in 2016.
But, in a message on his official Instagram page, Lucas Leiva seemed to confirm that he is happy at Lazio while Bournemouth are confident of keeping hold of Jermain Defoe, according to the Daily Record.
And another of Gerrard’s former team-mates, Martin Skrtel, could slip through Rangers’ grasp too. The Scottish Sun claimed on Wednesday that Rangers were closing in on a £2.7 million deal but the Slovakia skipper’s agent, Karol Csonto, has now admitted that finances could scupper the move.
“Rangers are interested in Martin. I personally talked to Steven Gerrard about this possibility,” Csonto told Markiza.
“Martin has sincerely said it would be an honour for him to play under Steven’s direction for three years. There are, however, complex financial matters. They are terribly far apart.”
But maybe this should be seen as a blessing in disguise. Rangers should have learned from the signings of Phillipe Senderos, Bruno Alves, Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar that Scotland is not merely a retiring home, an easy option for players who want to stroll around in slippers.
It is a competitive, fast-paced league and a difficult habitat for ageing players to acclimatise too. There is no guarantees that Skrtel, at 33, would have fared any better than Alves did last season.
And a failure to land the Fenerbahce ace should force Gerrard to look at younger options like fellow targets Kyle Bartley or Connor Goldson, or perhaps spend more time using his knowledge of academy football to develop Ross McCrorie or Aiden White.
Skrtel might have been an exciting addition but Rangers need to start planning for the long-term.
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