Lee Hodson has struggled for opportunities in Rangers’ starting XI so he really does not need Ryan Jack to be turned into a right-back.
Lee Hodson has been forced to wait patiently for his chance at Rangers since moving from MK Dons in the summer of 2016.
With the buccaneering James Tavernier firmly established as Rangers’ first-choice right-back, the Northern Ireland international has featured only sporadically in the first-team over the last year-and-a-half.
In total, Hodson has featured in just two Scottish Premiership games so far in 2017/18. And if he was struggling enough for game time with Tavernier ahead of him in the pecking order, the last thing the former Watford man needs is for one of his Rangers team-mates to convert to a right-back role.
Caretaker boss Graeme Murty, however, is in no doubt that tenacious midfielder Ryan Jack can do a job in the back four if required.
“Ryan is a clever footballer with a number of outstanding weapons he can deploy. You can give tactical instructions to him and see them deployed at a high level,” Murty told the Daily Record when asked whether Jack could solve Scotland’s right-back woes after the midfielder was handed his first international call-up in over four years last week.
Rangers, too, could make full use of the 25-year-old’s versatility. The former Aberdeen skipper, who has been sent off three times already for The Gers, is yet to really make a positive impression in central midfield and is perhaps worth trialling in a new right-back position.
Though if Jack is used as an alternative to Tavernier by Murty or whoever is appointed to replace Pedro Caixinha full-time at Ibrox, this would only further restrict Hodson’s first-team prospects.
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