Gerrard reportedly wants Rangers to sign a player Caixinha targeted in 2017

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A fair few things have changed since Steven Gerrard replaced Pedro Caixinha in the Ibrox dugout.

There are fewer headline-hogging controversy for one, fewer humiliating Old Firm derby demolitions, fewer early European exits, fewer sights of a manager, knee-deep in shrubbery, desperately trying to explain why his team had just been swatted aside by the fourth-best side in Luxembourg.

But Gerrard and Caixinha do have one thing in common – they are both big fans of a Lanarkshire-born midfielder who, according to reports, is as much a target for Rangers now as he was all the way back in 2017.

Three years ago, the Scottish Sun reported that Caixinha had identified then-Aberdeen star Kenny McLean as the ideal addition to an engine room boasting Jason Holt, Jon Toral and Harry Forrester.

These days, Rangers have a varied array of top-class midfielders capable of dominating Celtic from start to finish and making the giants of Benfica look like Ross County on their own Estadio da Luz turf.

But, according to The Sun (15 November, page 65), the superb form of Ryan Jack, Glen Kamara, Joe Aribo and Steven Davis has not stopped Gerrard trying to achieve what Caixinha could not.

Rangers are reportedly ready to offer Norwich City a deal to take the all-action Scotland international off their hands. What’s more McLean is understood to be keen on the chance to help the Gers’ stop Celtic’s ten-in-a-row dream from becoming a reality.

“There was talk a couple of times about (me joining) Rangers, but nothing ever came of it,” McLean told Open Goal in the summer.

“Nothing was ever in front of me, even when I was out of contract at Aberdeen. I had six months left on my deal and there were talks but nothing too big to be honest with you, nothing for me to get excited about.”

In January 2021, could a deal that has been in the works for almost four years finally come to fruition?

One thing is for sure, Ibrox is a far more alluring destination now than it was when Caixinha seemed intent on dragging Rangers’ reputation into the mud – and his own trousers through mounds of foliage.