Matt Crooks looks set to leave Ibrox this summer after just one year as a Rangers player.
Few Rangers supporters would bat an eyelid if Matt Crooks left the club permanently this summer.
After all, the midfielder only started one game in the Scottish Premiership after arriving from Accrington Stanley alongside Josh Windass and hardly set the world alight with The Gers outclassed in a 2-0 defeat to Hearts.
Yet, Crooks offered a fine reminder of his talents with a superb loan spell at Scunthorpe United in the second half of last season. Tenacious in the tackle and packing a punch from distance, the 23-year-old quickly became a fan favourite and displayed exactly the kind of quality that convinced Mark Warburton to buy him last year.
Matt Crooks failed to show his Accrington form at Rangers
Though this does not appear to have convinced Rangers that he deserves a second chance, if you can call his sporadic appearances in 2016/17 a chance at all.
Yet, if praise from Scunthorpe manager Graham Alexander is anything to go by, Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha may regret not even considering handing the talented midfielder a chance to prove his worth in pre-season.
‘Fantastic’
“If you look at our first goal, it was a fantastic tackle initially (from Crooks) and it set the tone for the rest of the half,” Alexander said after Crooks netted a stunning late winner in a 2-1 victory over Rochdale, per the club’s official website.
“Then Crooksy popped up with the winner at the end. It was a difficult ball to hit on the half-volley but it nestled in the corner and was a fantastic strike.”
And, when injury ruled him out of the run-in, Alexander added; “It is a blow to us because he has been fantastic, especially in the period when he has come into the team,” as reported by the Evening Times.
Rangers’ loss could be Scunthorpe’s gain.
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