Jamie Murphy did not feature for Steven Gerrard’s Glasgow Rangers at the weekend.
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard
The Gers got the better of East Fife 3-0 away from home in the Scottish League Cup on Sunday afternoon.
Murphy was part of the matchday squad for Rangers, but the 29-year-old did not come on and was an unused substitute.
Rangers manager Gerrard has explained why he decided not play the Scotland international winger against Ease Fife at the Bayview Stadium.
Gerrard told Rangers’ official website: “I was thinking of maybe putting him on, but we are here on astro-turf again – and there is no evidence to say astro-turf caused the problem – but I just wasn’t comfortable putting him on there.
“We were winning the game with a clean sheet and Jake Hastie has been waiting patiently in the wings, working very hard and trained very well yesterday, so he deserved a run-out.”
Going out on loan
Murphy suffered cruciate knee ligament damage last August, and while he has been training with the Rangers first team, Gerrard recently said, as quoted by The Scottish Sun, that the Scotland international could be sent out on loan in the summer transfer window.
With competition for places fierce in the Rangers starting lineup and the Gers having quite a few wingers, it would make sense for Murphy to go out on loan.
Murphy joined Rangers on a permanent contract from Brighton and Hove Albion in the summer of 2018 for a transfer fee reported by The Daily Mail to be worth £1 million after a loan spell at Ibrox.
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