Should Ben Woodburn rue not making Rangers move this summer?

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Glasgow Rangers were interested in bringing Ben Woodburn to Ibrox in the summer, but he ultimately headed elsewhere.

It was reported by the Daily Express in May that Rangers were keen on signing Ben Woodburn on loan from Liverpool during Steven Gerrard’s first summer at the helm at Ibrox.

Woodburn has long been considered one of the Reds’ brightest talents, so it appeared to make a lot of sense that Gerrard would target a move for the attacker following his switch to the Gers from Liverpool’s academy.

Gerrard would manage to convince Jurgen Klopp to send two of the club’s youngsters to Ibrox, but Woodburn would end up heading elsewhere as Ovie Ejaria and Ryan Kent joined Rangers on season-long loan deals.

But given how the trio’s respective loans have started, perhaps Woodburn would now be forgiven for ruing the fact that he was not amongst those to head to Rangers in the summer.

Woodburn headed to the Championship and joined Sheffield United. But while Chris Wilder continues to do a remarkable job at Bramall Lane, with their weekend win sending them to the top of the table, Woodburn has been a peripheral figure for the Blades.

The 18-year-old has started once in the league and has not featured in any of the last four games. In fact, he has not been included in a matchday squad in any of their last three fixtures.

Meanwhile at Rangers, both Ejaria and Kent looked as though this season may prove to be the campaigns that they both needed after difficult previous loan spells.

Kent has been fantastic in the Gers’ last two games in particular, while Ejaria has undoubtedly impressed the supporters with some of his touches and his bravery on the ball.

Both men appeared to be going almost nowhere in terms of their Liverpool careers before they arrived at Rangers. And now, based on their starts to life at Ibrox, it would be a surprise if Klopp did not have one eye on their development ahead of their potential returns next summer.

Woodburn is an enormous talent and there is more than enough time for the forward to quickly turn his fortunes around and help the Blades push for promotion, but he may perhaps look at his Reds teammates’ transformations since joining Rangers and wonder whether he would have been better off heading to Ibrox in the summer.