There’ll be no easy introduction to life at Rangers for the recent arrival at Ibrox.
Rangers announced the arrival of Ross Wilson as the club’s new Sporting Director this week.
Having previously served as Director of Football for English Premier League side Southampton, the new key decision maker at Ibrox is bringing a wealth of top level experience to Scottish football.
It comes after Mark Allen left the club earlier this season, despite an apparently close working relationship with manager Steven Gerrard.
With everything going pretty well for the Gers on the pitch over the last couple of months, the Ibrox side will be hoping Wilson’s presence behind the scenes sees them kick into a new gear.
The first real high profile opportunity for him to make an impact comes with the January transfer window.
Just a couple of months around the corner, Wilson will need to hit the ground running to sort out and prepare for some burning issues that could be headline makers.
Departure of Eros Grezda
First on the agenda for Wilson should be a further reduction in the deadwood currently contracted to Rangers.
The most glaring right now is Albanian international Eros Grezda, who appears to have completely alienated himself from the first-team squad but continues to earn a wage at the club.
Recently, the winger was accused of spitting at an opposition defender in a match with the club’s development side. It was reported by The Daily Record that Steven Gerrard was left fuming with the incident.
Last month, it was reported by The Scottish Daily Mail (14/09 print edition, back page) that one of the key reasons behind Allen’s departure was his failure to secure as many exits for players during the summer as the club would have liked.
It makes sense then that a massive part of Wilson’s remit will likely be getting players such as Grezda off the books. Contracted until 2022, it might prove difficult to move him on.
Defensive reinforcements
Another key priority for the new recruitment chief will be bolstering Gerrard’s options at left-back and potentially even right-back.
Currently Borna Barisic is the only natural left-sided player available for the position. Jon Flanagan and Andy Halliday are available but it’s far from an ideal scenario.
The Scottish Sun have already reported Aaron Hickey is on the radar.
On the right flank, captain James Tavernier has not had real competition for his position for years.
The Englishman remains a huge part of Gerrard’s first-team plans but having real back-up, beyond the so far unfancied Matt Polster could allow the right-back to be rested more often or even rotated out of the side in the wake of particularly poor performances.
Handle potential Alfredo Morelos bids
Just as it was during the summer transfer window, the future of Alfredo Morelos is likely to be a big story throughout January.
At the end of the recent English window, West Bromwich Albion were reported to have had a bumped bid rejected by the Gers (The Daily Record).
Already scoring 14 goals and assisting five times this season, as well as winning more caps with Colombia, that kind of interest is unlikely to have dissipated in the time since.
Selling him mid-season would of course not be ideal. However, if a team comes along that offers huge money that Wilson could use to build a better squad at Ibrox, could they be tempted?
Big decisions will likely have to be made by Wilson, Gerrard and others at Ibrox.
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