Jayden Meghoma reminds Rangers of Tuur Rommens brilliance after injury absence
Jayden Meghoma was given a chance to impress in Rangers‘ 4-2 win over Dundee United.
Having joined on a loan deal from Brentford until the end of the season, the 19-year-old has made 41 appearances at Ibrox, scoring one goal and registering six assists.
While his switch north of the border initially raised eyebrows in Glasgow, he has gone on to make a strong impression, leading to calls for him to be signed permanently.
However, the arrival of Tuur Rommens flipped his world upside down. Once the undisputed first-choice left-back, he now merely plays second fiddle to the £2.6million January arrival.
But with Rommens out injured, Meghoma started against Dundee United on Saturday.
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How did Jayden Meghoma play vs Dundee United?
The big question on supporters’ lips is whether the teenager did enough to cement his claim to start ahead of Rommens during the Light Blues’ Scottish Premiership title run-in.
Unfortunately for him, he fell short of the lofty standards set by his Belgian team-mate.
| Jayden Meghoma | Statistic | Tuur Rommens |
| 26 | Matches | 6 |
| 1 | Goals | 1 |
| 4 | Assists | 1 |
| 0.7 (24%) | Accurate crosses per game | 2.0 (36%) |
| 1.5 | Tackles per game | 1.3 |
| 0.3 (37%) | Successful dribbles per game | 0.3 (50%) |
He was certainly sound defensively despite the jitters that emanated across the backline at times, having made two tackles, one interception and four clearances.
Danny Rohl has preferred Rommens over Meghoma because of their contrasting abilities in attack, though. On Saturday, the gulf in class was on display again as the latter flailed a little.
He lost possession nine times and was accurate with just one of his four crosses (25 per cent) throughout the 90 minutes, effectively meaning the forwards lacked support.
While Rohl admitted post-match that he was pleased with his contributions, he will privately have to acknowledge that he would have wanted to see more from the talent.
Does Jayden Meghoma have a future at Rangers?
Rommens, signed from Westerlo during the winter window, is undoubtedly deadlier with the ball in the final third, which is an important element of Rohl’s tactical blueprint.
On the other hand, Meghoma has been Mr Reliable throughout the course of the campaign. It would have been unfair to expect him to pull up trees this early in his career development.
But the latter will be disappointed with his limited minutes since the turn of the year, and even a run in the team during Rommens’ absence may not be enough to see him stay.
Regardless, Rohl has tipped him to play a big part during the run-in.
“The key is that now Jayden is ready,” said Rohl. “It’s always important, as I said many times, Jayden helped us as well to get a lot of points when he played as a starter.”
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