View: Rangers forward Kemar Roofe finds himself in curious situation
Rangers forward Kemar Roofe finds himself in a curious situation at Ibrox at this moment in time.
The Gers forward has scored 11 goals in 25 games this season, while his overall 29 goals in 61 games are equally enviable.
However, Giovanni van Bronckhorst may find it difficult to start him on a regular basis.
Alfredo Morelos remains his first-choice striker and Roofe at best serves as his back-up option. He usually gets the chance when Morelos doesn’t play.
Even if we ignore his injury records, there are fundamental issues with him.
Roofe is a versatile forward, who can play a number of roles. He can play as a striker, he can play as a no 10, and he can be used in the wings as well.
There lies the big problem where he could be reduced to back-up options only unless Rangers sell players in those positions and rebuild the squad from the scratch.
In the present scenario, GvB can’t drop the imperious Joe Aribo. He has nailed the no 10 role and dropping him for Roofe is unthinkable.
How about playing on the wings? Roofe is an intelligent player who has got fantastic finishing abilities, but he is not blessed with pace.
Rangers have a host of options in the attacking third areas. They have further bolstered that area by adding Aaron Ramsey to the side in January.
Roofe is too good a player to warm the bench. Van Brockhorst has tweaked the system used by Steven Gerrard, and Roofe is in danger of losing out his starting position in the side.
Obviously, Van Bronckhorst will want a player of his calibre to stay at the club, and it’s a positional conundrum that he must solve to get the best out of Roofe.
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