OPINION
Liverpool have snubbed Steven Gerrard and are close to sealing a loan deal to Derby County for exciting attacker Harry Wilson, according to the Scottish Sun – and it’s a huge blow for Rangers.
The winger was pulled from Liverpool’s pre-season friendly against Bury on Saturday as he finalised his loan move to the Championship side.
It will be an even more bitter blow for Steven Gerrard as his old international colleague Frank Lampard has pipped him to his signature.
Wilson has been one of Gerrard’s long-standing summer targets, and it was believed he had a great chance of landing Wilson because of his close ties to the club and to Jurgen Klopp.
However, ultimately that seems to have counted for nothing, with Liverpool seeing Championship promotion hopefuls Derby as the best place for the player’s development.
They still see him as having a big future at Liverpool, despite sending him out on loan again, and he would have caused havoc in the Scottish Premiership.
Rangers need goal threats and Wilson would have provided that and more from his right-wing position.
Gerrard and Mark Allen have had a terrific summer transfer window, bringing in a solid new defence, but Wilson would have been the marquee cherry on the top.
However, the Scottish Sun say their bid for him has been killed by Derby and that is a huge loss to Rangers, who now need to look elsewhere for goals.
The only consolation is that he didn’t end up at arch rivals Celtic, who were also reportedly in for his services.