Ibrox View: Has Jake Hastie done enough to warrant Rangers nod next season?
RANGERS OPINION
Rangers have had some fairly mixed experiences in the loan market in recent times.
On the one hand you have brilliant examples of how the system can be used for good, such as Ryan Kent and Jermain Defoe’s initial deals that were later turned in to permanent signings.
On the other you have a whole host of flops who have failed to live up to their billing – see Sheyi Ojo as this season’s shining example.
But loans can also be about readying your own fledgling talent for an assault on the first team in the future – and in Jake Hastie they have a player who will have high hopes of achieving that goal in the near future.
But does he have what it takes?
The 22-year-old has spent this season on loan at Rotherham United, scoring three goals in 14 League One outings.
Those numbers only really tell half the story though.
Hastie hasn’t started a league game since December 14th, and he hasn’t scored since September.
Beyond that, his stats make for confusing reading.
This is a player who has completed more dribbles and put in more accurate crosses than Ryan Kent this season, as per Wyscout, and yet his total action success rate is just 45.5% – 16.7% lower than the ex-Liverpool man’s.
So, does he have a future at Ibrox?
As you might expect, the answer is not a simple one.
There are definitely positives to the wide man’s game.
Take the image above, for example, captured during his last start for Rotherham back in December.
In that picture, Hastie has shown great ball control and pace to wriggle through a forest of opponents, driving into a very dangerous position.
In fact, he was able to keep on going all the way to the byline, and on another day his cross could well have found a teammate for what would have been a superb assist.
This was positive and exciting from Hastie, and showed all the good attributes that he evidently does possess.
But there were obvious negatives too.
Hastie completed just two passes all match. That is abysmal for a professional footballer, no matter which way you look at it.
And it’s little wonder that the figure was so low when he was insistent on lumping hit and hope balls into the box for no apparent reason.
In the image above, for example, rather than acknowledging that there were still phases of build up play to work through, the Scot delivered a ball to nobody way too early, and ended up hitting the first man in the process.
That just wouldn’t cut it at Ibrox.
It’s frustrating because clearly there is a very talented player in there somewhere, but until he gets a grasp of the basics, it’s hard to see how Steven Gerrard can afford to throw him into the first team set up in Glasgow.
In other Rangers news, ‘Massive’ – Ibrox Exclusive: Bruce reacts to fresh Gers ‘kick in the teeth’ after UEFA report.