Dane and dusted as Gerrard moves for winger Barker
STEVEN GERRARD has revealed Rangers are on the brink of signing Brandon Barker after being rebuffed in a fresh attempt to lure Ryan Kent back from Liverpool. Speaking after his side recorded an impressive 4-2 away win in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier against FC Midtjylland, Gerrard admitted Barker was close to sealing a permanent switch from Manchester City. Previously on loan at Hibs,
the 22-year-old winger is well known to Ibrox director of football Mark Allen from his time in charge of City’s academy and underwent a medical yesterday. Barker is now poised to become Gerrard’s ninth summer addition after the 39-year-old’s former Anfield employers again ruled out a loan return for Kent in talks this week. ‘We haven’t signed him yet,’ said Gerrard of Barker. ‘He is having a medical. It’s close. ‘Would that be it in terms of the squad? Who knows. ‘I don’t think it is a secret we tried to get Ryan Kent to return. Liverpool knew how much we wanted the player to come back. ‘But I was told a week ago by Jurgen Klopp that he wouldn’t be going out on loan. So I respect that decision. ‘We checked again a couple of days ago. I spoke to the technical director Michael Edwards. He made it very clear again that it wouldn’t be happening. So we had to move in a different direction. ‘We thank Ryan for everything he has done. Time will tell whether our paths cross again but he is a magnificent player. We did everything we can to get him back but it is not to be and we respect Liverpool and thank them for letting us have him for a year.’ The Rangers boss was thrilled by his side’s display in Denmark as they put themselves in a commanding position to reach the Europa League play-off round. But he cautioned that the job was not yet done. Well-taken goals from Alfredo Morelos, Joe Aribo and Nikola Katic had Rangers 3-0 up in the MCH Arena before FC Midtjylland hit back with quickfire responses through Frank Onyeka and Sory Kaba. However, just as home hopes of a remarkable comeback were rising, Scott Arfield produced another lovely finish with 20 minutes remaining to ensure a two-goal lead ahead of next Thursday’s second leg in Glasgow. ‘It was a fantastic performance and I think we thoroughly deserved our win,’ said Gerrard. ‘Across the board, there were so many stand-out performances against a very good team, a team that have got good players, a good style. ‘They have a physical presence and they carry a threat off set-pieces. It’s a good result and it’s a good position to be in, but it’s only half-time. ‘We will have to match the performance to get the job done next week. No way are we going to celebrate this. We have major respect for the opposition and we will need to perform next week. I need the roof to come off Ibrox to help the boys get over the line.’ Rangers had looked to be rattled after Kenneth Andersen’s side pulled their two goals back in a mad six-minute spell. ‘So we did have a bit of a wobble, but we have come away from home, scored four goals and there were outstanding individual performances,’ added Gerrard. Indeed, he felt there were numerous significant contributors to the win — not least Morelos, who shrugged off recent transfer speculation to lead the line with aplomb. ‘I think tonight we were close to the perfect performance,’ continued Gerrard. ‘The goals we scored were top, top quality. ‘It’s difficult to praise individuals but it was Jon Flanagan’s first game back. He was tough and really good for us. ‘Jordan Jones has arrived tonight as a Rangers player. If there was any doubt that he could come away to tough places and perform for Rangers, he gave us oxygen on the counter-attack. ‘Big Buff (Morelos) up front. There is a lot of speculation about him and people sometimes question his commitment to the club — but his commitment was there in abundance tonight. ‘He led the line terrifically well and he scored a great header. There was a lot to admire about the performance but it is only a job half done. You achieve nothing in football with a job half done. ‘But we have Hibernian to focus on (in the Premiership at Ibrox on Sunday), so we need to forget Midtjylland for a week and really focus on trying to build on our performance at Kilmarnock.’