Selling star men a no-no for Gerrard

STEVEN GERRARD insists it would be a ‘huge mistake’ for Rangers to sell any key players this month. Alfredo Morelos, Borna Barisic and midfielder Glen Kamara have all been linked with moves to Serie A clubs in Italy. Gerrard admits big-money offers could prompt the Ibrox outfit to sell in future transfer windows. However, with his team within striking distance of Celtic at the top of the Premiership, he claims there is no question of selling his top performers in the next two weeks. Speaking as Rangers prepared for tonight’s Scottish Cup visit of Stranraer, Gerrard said: ‘In terms of selling any of our assets, any of our top players, that won’t be happening. ‘The important thing is we’re

all on the same page. Dave King, the board, Stewart Robertson, Ross (Wilson), myself, my staff, even the players themselves — we’re all on the same page. ‘Where we’re trying to take this and what we want. ‘It doesn’t make any sense at all for anyone connected with Rangers if we’re to cash in one of our assets right now. ‘Will it happen in the future? Possibly. We all understand the situation and what happens. Sometimes bids can’t be turned down. I respect and understand that. ‘But it would be a huge, huge mistake if we did that now — or in the next couple of weeks.’ Man-of-the-match in the Old Firm win over Celtic, Barisic (pictured) is a target for Roma, although reports from Italy claim the Serie A club are now eyeing another

Croatian left-back, Stuttgart’s Borna Sosa. Reiterating his desire to keep hold of Barisic by securing him on a new contract, however, Gerrard added: ‘We’ve opened up contract negotiations with Borna and his representatives. ‘That’s bubbling away and I think that shows our intent and how much we want to keep the player. ‘I think the player’s really happy here. ‘We haven’t had a bid in black and white for any of our players so far in the window. ‘Will that happen from now until the end? Possibly, I don’t know, I wouldn’t like to predict it. We don’t want any of our best players to go.’ Willing to trim fringe players from his squad, midfielder Greg Docherty is poised to join Sunderland on loan while winger Jamie Murphy is in talks with Burton Albion. ‘There will be players around the squad who will go out on loan any day now,’ said the Ibrox boss. ‘That could happen today, it could happen next Monday. We’ll see.’ Confirming that skipper James Tavernier faces two or three weeks on the sidelines after an appendix procedure, Gerrard praised Rangers medical staff for diagnosing the issue quickly. ‘These situations can be worse, it can be up to six weeks or a couple of months if there are complications or the appendix bursts. But, contrary to rumours yesterday, that wasn’t the case,’ he said. ‘It’s more like a couple of weeks instead of a couple of months, which is good news. ‘James was totally fine in Dubai, flew back and had a day off. The morning we were about to come in, he started to feel a bit of abdominal pain and wasn’t sure what it was. ‘He called the doctor and thankfully we’ve got one of the best doctors in the business, he sent him to a specialist straight away and got to the problem early. ‘I’m confident we can cope without James. It’s not ideal, as he’s been there every session, every game. Hopefully it’s only going to be a couple of weeks and it’s not a major problem.’ Reluctant to name a captain in Tavernier’s absence, Jon Flanagan and teenager Nathan Patterson are vying to fill the void at right-back. ‘Jon’s in the best shape

I’ve seen him this season in terms of how he’s looking,’ said Gerrard. ‘He came over to Dubai absolutely flying. ‘He trained right through the winter camp and he’s obviously trying to earn a contract here. So I’ve got no doubts Jon will be waiting in the wings and desperate to play. We’ve got a game now every three or four days, right through to the next international break. So there’s plenty of football there and I know Jon’s ready. ‘I had a chat with him yesterday and I can see it in his eyes that he’s ready. ‘But, we’ve got some other options that can play there as well. We’ve got Matt Polster who can do a job, quite an attacking full-back and we’ve seen him do it many a time in the MLS. ‘Nathan’s obviously around it now in terms of the fringe of things.’