Steven Gerrard explains what Dejan Lovren told him about Rangers newbie Borna Barisic

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Glasgow Rangers made Borna Barisic their latest signing, with the left-back arriving at Ibrox on a four-year deal.

Steven Gerrard has told Rangers’ official YouTube channel that he spoke to Dejan Lovren before the Gers’ Europa League clash with Osijek, with the Liverpool ace insisting that Borna Barisic was the player to look out for as the Rangers boss explained how the left-back came to become the club’s latest signing.

Barisic certainly caught the eye of the Ibrox faithful as the Scottish Premiership side went through their tie 2-1 on aggregate. It was the left-back who scored the Croatian outfit’s goal in the second-leg, and he celebrated his display by making the switch to Rangers this week.

The move appears to have come off the back of his performance in the European tie, but Gerrard insisted that he held conversations with Lovren – as well as Rangers summer signing Nikola Katic, who was alongside the Gers boss at his press conference – ahead of the games and was told that the 25-year-old was the player to look out for.

“We knew the player as soon as we were drawn against Osijek. I had a couple of conversations with this man to my left. I also spoke in good detail to Dejan Lovren and he made it very clear that their main threat was Borna,” he told Rangers’ official YouTube channel.

“I think the club have performed very well in the last few days in terms of getting that signing through the door very quickly, and the reason being was that we had to act quick because there were many, many teams trying to chase his services. I think that goes to show what kind of players we’ve brought through the door.”

It certainly is an encouraging sign that both Lovren and Katic were suggesting that Gerrard needs to take a look at Barisic, especially as his performances seemed to back up what the Rangers boss had been told.

Katic has made a positive start to life at Ibrox, and Lovren is a player who Liverpool signed for £20 million in 2014 – fee reported by BBC Sport – and has gone on to play in Champions League and World Cup finals this year.

The move for Barisic may have perhaps caught Rangers fans by surprise initially, but it is now much easier to understand considering that Gerrard already had positive scouting reports on him before the defender seemingly aced the audition last week.