Journalist Pete O’Rourke has claimed that Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard is sure to look towards his former club Rangers for potential new signings in the January transfer window.
What’s the story?
The former Liverpool skipper was appointed as Villa’s new manager following Dean Smith’s exit, and has presided over a superb turnaround in form, with their latest victory coming in the shape of a comeback win against Leicester in the Premier League.
Now, O’Rourke has suggested that with the January transfer window around the corner, Gerrard will be looking north of the border at some of his former players.
He told GIVEMESPORT: “He will definitely have his eyes on players from Rangers. These are players he knows, he can trust, he knows how they work, and they know how Gerrard works, so it would probably be attractive for them if they want to move to Aston Villa.”
Hitting the ground running under Gerrard
Given that Gerrard has taken over at Villa Park midway through the season – hardly the perfect time for any new manager given that they have no pre-season to work with the players – it’s absolutely imperative any business that does get done in January is able to hit the ground running.
Signing players who the new Villa boss has already worked with at Rangers would allow them to acclimatise far better and far quicker than anyone else, while the chances of that signing going horribly wrong also gets drastically reduced.
The last thing Gerrard needs is a Morgan Sanson-esque signing whereby they arrive as a complete newcomer to the Premier League and with no previous connection to the manager. Sanson has been a drastically poor signing, featuring on just 12 occasions following his arrival 11 months ago.
January signings always carry that element of risk, and Gerrard targeting players from Rangers would go a long way to neutralising that.
Villa fans will surely be excited by O’Rourke’s transfer claim.
Meanwhile, Villa are eyeing this French midfielder…