Rangers ‘decimated’ by injuries as Leon Balogun and Ben Davies verdict shared by pundit
We’re delighted to welcome Tam McManus as our exclusive Rangers columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Ibrox…
Tam McManus has been disappointed by Ben Davies’ performances for Rangers since arriving at Ibrox in the summer transfer window from Liverpool.
Davies, 27, joined the Light Blues for £3million in July with Liverpool owed an extra £1million down the line [Fabrizio Romano].
The ex-Preston centre-back missed the first few weeks of the start of the season due to injury but has since played in every Scottish Premiership fixture and all but one of the club’s Champions League games since 1 October.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s defensive options have been decimated by injuries this season and it’s fair to say that’s had an impact on performances.
But McManus has pointed to the summer sales of Leon Balogun and Nikola Katic as two transfers that probably shouldn’t have happened when so much money was spent on Davies, who’s struggled.
“Davies has been okay,” McManus told Ibrox News.
“He’s not really been a stand-out for me. Rangers paid a few million for him so when you pay that kind of money, you expect them to come in and be very good – especially domestically.
“No disrespect but when you look at Livingston and St Johnstone – teams like that – you’re expecting the guy to cruise through those games and he hasn’t, to be honest.
“I know they’ve got injury problems and Rangers are decimated at the back.
“The recruitment team will look back on letting Balogun go and not re-signing him.
“Souttar’s been injured, Helander’s been injured for a long time, Katic played pretty well against Arsenal but they let him go.
“I think the recruitment department, the Rangers supporters will be looking at that because I don’t think they’ve upgraded the defence at all.
“Defensively, they don’t look stronger than last year.”
In other Rangers news, this former Premier League manager is a “standout” choice to replace van Bronckhorst if he’s sacked.