Peter Lovenkrands hails outstanding ‘unsung hero’ as his pick for Rangers Player of the Year
Peter Lovenkrands has praised the performances of Glen Kamara this season and puts him forward as a Player of the Year nominee for Rangers.
The Great Dane knows all about lighting up Ibrox with dazzling displays after scoring over 50 goals for the Gers during a six-year spell at the turn of the century but he has shone the light over a player who has considerably less impact at the top end of the pitch.
Kamara joined Rangers midway through the 2018/19 campaign and is not a player who hogs much of the limelight with just four goals in 87 games so far, but it is his industrious and skilful displays in the centre of midfield that have made him such a key asset to Steven Gerrard’s side.
Such efforts have been recognised by Lovenkrands who has name-checked him alongside James Tavernier and Allan McGregor as his front-runners for Rangers’ Player of the Year award, despite nearly a third of the season remaining.
In a clip uploaded on the Sky Sports Football Youtube [05/02/21] he told The Scottish Football Podcast: “Glen Kamara has been outstanding as well and has been one of the unsung heroes for me in that he does stuff that is so important for the team and most of the times go unnoticed.
“But he for me has been fantastic.”
Consistent Kamara
Kamara is a favourite of ours at Ibrox News and passes the ‘eye-test” with flying colours but how do his underlying statistics support Lovenkrands view, with just one goal involvement in the Premiership this season?
Well, figures by Wyscout show that the 25-year-old is absolutely crucial to orchestrating attacks for the Light Blues.
His ability to keep hold of the ball and find his teammates is unrivalled in the Rangers midfield with a 92% pass completion ranking him third for outfielders in the Premiership.
What is particularly impressive is that he is not someone who is happy just to play the easy passes in the middle of midfield as his 10.9 passes per 90 to the final third show, putting him sixth in the league while his 87.27% accuracy pushed him to third.
Kamara also makes 7.73 recoveries and 3.17 interception per 90 while winning 53.5% of his defensive duels as he shows his willingness to track back and put his foot in when needed.
Lovenkrands alluded to McGregor and Tavernier as being his other contenders so far for the Rangers Player of the Year and who could begrudge them this honour with both playing such an integral role in a stunningly miserly defence this season that has conceded just seven goals in 27 games.
Tavernier sticks out the most considering he is also the joint-top scorer in the Premiership with 11 goals.
But we are well on board with the early shout for Kamara and cannot wait to see him test out his abilities in the latter stages of the Europa League.
In other Rangers news, see our exclusive interview with Alex McLeish on which Gers transfer surprised him.