Graham Alexander claims forgotten Rangers talent Jake Hastie is doing extra work in training

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Rangers signed a staggering five wingers in the summer of 2019, and only one of them has been anything close to a success.

Jordan Jones is off on loan at Sunderland, Brandon Barker has been farmed out to Oxford United and Sheyi Ojo’s loan from Liverpool wasn’t extended.

Ryan Kent has excelled, justifying his lofty price tag, but what about Jake Hastie?

Hastie had shown huge potential at Motherwell. He hit six goals in 14 games in 2019, emerging as one of Scottish football’s top young talents.

Hastie was physically impressive; strong, quick and dynamic, earning lofty comparisons to Gareth Bale thanks to his speed and dangerous left foot.

Rangers swooped to sign Hastie with his contract expiring, but then immediately sent him to Rotherham United on loan. That spell ended early, and he didn’t feature again before lockdown.

This term, the 22-year-old is back on loan at Motherwell, but hasn’t really been making an impact, meaning his Rangers future is up in the air.

Now, Well boss Graham Alexander has told The Scottish Sun that he thinks Hastie may have ‘lost a bit of heart’ after falling out of the starting lineup at Fir Park.

Alexander did though note that Hastie has done extra work in training and is fighting hard to play, which is the kind of determination that he will have to show if he is to save his Rangers career.

“I think for every player it is up to them what happens for the rest of the season, including Jake,” said Alexander. “He made a good impression in the first week but he couldn’t play our second game against Rangers and someone else came in and did well, so we ran with that.”

“He went under the radar a little bit and probably lost a bit of heart. We spoke to him a month ago, we did extra work with him, he has done extra work himself and he is reinvigorated. We have seen his response in training and that’s why we got him back on the pitch.”

“Some players learn quicker than others but they will understand how important training is to me  and when it comes to me picking the team. Jake has seen that and he is in much better shape physically. The door is there for him and others, it is about them kicking it down and being what they want to be. Their career is down to them, really,” he added.