Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
New men a boost says Gerrard but Morelos is on his own in Germany
STEVEN Gerrard believes Rangers are ready to come out shooting after solving their firepower issues.
It is only two weeks since Gerrard went public with fears that his team did not have enough strength in depth to halt Celtic’s charge for 10 titles in a row.
But the Light Blues board have acted swiftly to ease their manager’s concerns after sanctioning the purchases of Kemar Roofe and Cedric Itten for a combined sum reported to be £8.5 million.
Roofe arrives after a year at Anderlecht but previously excelled with Leeds, while Gerrard will hope Switzerland international Itten can replicate the form that saw him notch 19 goals in 34 games for St Gallen last term.
Gerrard said: “I’m extremely happy with the two players we got in. I made it well known we were quite vulnerable with the options we had prior to getting the two new lads through the door.
“But now we’ve got a lot of options in the forward areas, we’ve got a lot of firepower and I’m really excited about working with them. In terms of the club, they have given us good backing and that has always been the same since day one.”
However, Gerrard will not be able to call upon either of his new recruits as they return to Europa League action after a five month hiatus.
It will instead be down to Alfredo Morelos to lead the line against Bayer Leverkusen as Rangers look to overturn March’s 3-1 first-leg defeat at the Bay Arena tonight.
Gerrard said: “We’re over here to give everything we’ve got. We know it’s going to be tough, we know the deficit we’re trying to plug, but the plan is to start on the front foot, get the first goal and then make it an interesting tie.”