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Ryan Kent proved he is Championship-level in Rangers defeat at Liverpool - Graham Spiers
Ryan Kent “safely answered” the question as to whether he is worthy of a Premier League move after Rangers lost at Liverpool, according to Graham Spiers.
The Gers were comfortably seen off 2-0 at Anfield of Tuesday (4 October), with a huge performance from Allan McGregor in goal the main reason it wasn’t a third heavy defeat in three Champions League games this year.
Star winger Kent, 25, is inside the final 12 months of his contract at Ibrox, and a return to England has been tipped for him, but following the return to his old club Spiers is convinced it will be the second tier rather than the top if he does.
Ahead of the game the journalist had posted on his personal Twitter account: “Everyone is saying it because it’s true: this is a huge night ahead for Ryan Kent.
“Is he worthy of a move to the Premier League next summer or does he look more Championship-level? A bit of evidence awaits…”
He then followed that up with his own response on Wednesday morning that said: “Well I think this Q was safely answered at Anfield last night…”
Disappointment
Kent is becoming a lightning rod for criticism at Ibrox due to a tendency to threaten a lot but only deliver a fraction.
Over his time in Glasgow he has undoubtedly been a key part of the success the club has had in the past few years, but there is the nagging doubt that he should have taken the next step by now.
A bad game at Anfield is the sort of evening that can befall even the best in the world but it certainly hasn’t helped the Gers winger for it to come at this point.
He scored his first goal of the season in the 4-0 win at Hearts at the weekend (1 October), and has four assist in the SPFL so far.
But he scored only three times all last year, despite runs to the final of both the Europa League and the Scottish Cup.
His ability to panic defenders to win penalties doesn’t necessarily get recorded in his stats, and 17 assists across the campaign is not to be dismissed, but there does feel like a tendency to go missing at inopportune times.
The likes of Jota and Liel Abada at Celtic are understandably compared to the Englishman as counterparts at the club’s biggest rivals, and the fact that the pair have 10 goals between them already this year does tend to show him up.
That the new contract that has been in the offing for some months now has still not arrived will inevitably shine the spotlight on him to a greater degree as the absence of an agreement suggests a difference in how either side rates him.
If it is a move to the Premier League that he wants then the defeat at Anfield won’t have helped his cause, but more worryingly for Rangers, neither will form that continues to only show flashes of what he is surely capable of.
In other Rangers news, Giovanni van Bronckhorst appears to have made an “unfathomable mistake” with one key player.