Steven Gerrard wants four of his five Rangers loanees permanently

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Rangers brought five loan players to Ibrox this summer.

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has told The Scottish Sun that he would love to sign his loanees on a permanent basis in the summer of 2019.

The Gers backed new boss Gerrard with free agents such as Allan McGregor, Jon Flanagan, Gareth McAuley and Scott Arfield over the summer, as well as paying up for Connor Goldson, Nikola Katic, Kyle Lafferty and more.

Rangers also decided to explore the loan market once again, bringing in five players on a temporary basis to boost Gerrard’s options at Ibrox.

Ryan Kent and Ovie Ejaria both came in on loan from Gerrard’s former club Liverpool, whilst Lassana Coulibaly, Joe Worrall and Umar Sadiq joined from Angers, Nottingham Forest and Roma respectively.

Whilst Sadiq is yet to make a single Rangers start and is something of a forgotten man already, Coulibaly has become vital already, Kent and Ejaria have shown flashes of their quality and Worrall made a first start against Villarreal on Thursday.

Ahead of today’s game against St Johnstone, Gerrard has discussed the future of his loanees, but tellingly didn’t mention striker Sadiq, instead focusing on his other four loanees.

Gerrard has told The Scottish Sun that he would love to sign Worrall, Coulibaly, Ejaria and Kent permanently, noting that in a perfect world, they would already be on long-term deals with Rangers – and joked that if Liverpool keep winning, he may use his relationship with Jurgen Klopp to strike deals for Ejaria and Kent.

“If you’re asking me if I’d want the four of them for next year, I’d sign them right now. We rate them highly,” said Gerrard. “In an ideal world, they’d all be on four or five-year deals but unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. We have to be respectful to their parents clubs. I’m still in Jurgen Klopp’s good books, so if Liverpool keep winning maybe there’s some scope,” he added.