‘Players worth over £100m’ – Steven Gerrard sends message to key Rangers star
Steven Gerrard has urged Ryan Kent to focus on Rangers and maintain his outstanding form rather than thinking about an England call-up.
The 23-year-old has scored four goals and provided one assist from 12 Scottish Premiership appearances so far this season, helping Rangers to the top of the table.
However, Ibrox boss Gerrard was bullish when asked about Kent’s chances of receiving the call from Gareth Southgate, instead encouraging him to remain in such a rich vein of form.
“If you look at the England team and squad at the moment, you would actually say that’s the strongest position,” said Gerrard (via The Scotsman).
“You’re talking about players worth over £100m in there, so it’s certainly a huge challenge, and not just for Ryan but for any young English winger who has ambitions of representing England.
“But that’s not important to me at the moment — and I don’t know how important it is to Ryan. The priority has to be here at Rangers. This should be the bread and butter of his focus and he has started the season in a fantastic place. His form has been really good.”
Tough ask
Kent has been excellent for Rangers so far this season and a key part of their outstanding start to the season.
Therefore, it is no wonder that Rangers assistant Gary McAllister recently backed him to make the squad.
“What I’d say is that when he’s performing the way he did against a team from Holland – Williem II are a good side who are in the Europa League on merit – then he must be getting close,” he said (via The Scottish Sun).
“There is a push towards younger players with the England set-up under Gareth Southgate. And Ryan is exciting.”
However, with Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish, Mason Mount and plenty of others competing for a spot on the England wing, Gerrard is right to highlight the task at hand.
Kent certainly has the potential to earn a call-up in the future if he maintains these levels of form, but he will need to do it over the entire season and help bring Rangers the title.
While four goals in 12 league matches is impressive, Sterling scored 20 goals from 30 Premier League starts last season just showing how high the standards are.
In other Rangers news, Steven Gerrard has been warned off a Premier League return by a former teammate.