He has pet snake .. wears a baggy tracksuit and gets new tatt every 5 minutes but I still love him
GERRARD ON KENT
Steven Gerrard reckons Ryan Kent is unique, both on and off the pitch.
Few players in Scotland have the winger’s electrifying pace and dribbling ability. There aren’t many either who keep a pet SNAKE at home. Kent ticks both of those boxes and Gerrard admits he doesn’t have anyone else like him in the Ibrox dressing room. But the Rangers manager wouldn’t have the on- loan Liverpool star any other way. He’s adamant that any notions that Kent is cocky or arrogant are wide of the mark. He’s known the kid since he was 17, when Ger r a rd wou ld spend a day at Melwood trying to kick him. Since becoming his ga f fer, the Ger s boss says he has finally got to know the real Kent. Forget his moment of madness in the heat of Old Firm battle last Sunday when he lashed out at Scott Brown. Gerrard says the 22-year- old is one of the quietest, most unassuming players he’s worked with. That, combined with his pace, technique and belief he can influence huge games, is why Gerrard wants to build his Rangers team around him. That all depends on what Jurgen Klopp wants to do with his player this summer but Gerrard remains optimistic that Kent will be in Glasgow next term. He’s convinced Kent has developed as a player and matured as a person at Ibrox – even if he is a one-off.
Gerrard said: “Ryan’s a different player to the one who arrived here. He’s come out of his shell.
“If you look at him from afar, he can be misunderstood. People think he’s got this confidence and swagger about him.
“But he’s a lovely kid, who’s good fun. He’s different.
“He’s got a pet snake, wears baggy tracksuits and gets a tattoo every five minutes.
“That ’s fine by me. He’s different to other people but, having got to know Ryan the way I have, I absolutely love him.
“I trained with Ryan because he was around Liverpool’s first team at 17 or 18.
“It’s an eye- opener when he’s running at you, especially when you’re coming into your 30s.
“His memories are probably of me kicking lumps out of him in training.
“My memories are of him burst ing past me but now our relationship is different, obviously. I want to protect him, help him grow and offer him a platform here to express himself.
“The key to Ryan is the people in our dressing room. They have accepted him, helped him and realised that he is at a really high level.
“They enjoy having him here because he can breed confidence in the team.”
Kent’s return of six goals and four assists this season needs to be improved on – and Gerrard is well aware of that.
But overall, his performances since arriving from Anf ield have been impressive. He gives Rangers a total ly different dimension on the f lank, often ter ror ising r ival full-backs.
And the impact he’s made in the last two Old Firm derbies h a s c onv i nc e d Gerrard that Kent has the mentality to be a big player for Rangers.
He said: “Over the last couple of years there has been a fear factor in Rangers players and a real lack of belief going into the Old Firm games.
“Once Celtic got ahead, we crumbled and it was a mismatch.
“We sampled a bit of that in the first 45 minutes of the opening Old Firm game. Brendan Rodgers’
team dominated the ball against us.
“I could still feel there was a bit of a mental block and fear. That was the reason we tried to make a lot of changes in the summer.
“We wanted to freshen it up with players who hadn’t experienced that.
“I want players to go into Old Firm games with confidence that they can affect the game.
“We’ve got better at that this season. In the game against Celtic at Ibrox we were strong from start to finish.
“Even though the result didn’t go our way last Sunday, for the majority of the game our players had a different belief.
“Ryan had a big part to play in that. When he’s at his level – whether you’re a Celtic player or anyone else in the league – he’s difficult to cope with.”
Gerrard still doesn’t know if he’ll be able to snare Kent again for next season but he’s hopeful that another loan deal with Klopp can be struck.
And given the player’s progress at Ibrox and hefty increase in price tag, he feels that Kent can be a perfect example for more of h is summer targets.
He said: “We hope Ryan’s development can help at tract other talented players. We hope they’re seeing what we’re doing – giving players an opportunity to play in front of 50,000 fans, in big games and on a European run.
“Hopefully some of our targets, guys on our lists, are saying to themselves: ‘ That looks like an exciting place to play’.
“We want them to think something is brewing here and that they want to be part of it.”
I want to protect him, help him grow, offer a platform to express himself ...