Steven Gerrard has claimed Rangers winger Glenn Middleton is such a dazzler he “wouldn’t want to play against him”.
The Liverpool icon and Premier League all-time great raved over the Scotland youth international following his impressive cameo in the team’s 2-2 draw against Villarreal in Spain last night (Thursday).
Middleton came off the bench after 70 minutes as a replacement for Lassana Coulibaly and helped create the second equaliser with a neat lay-off to send Borna Barisic charging down the left flank to tee up Kyle Lafferty.
Speaking at his media briefing on Friday morning, as quoted by the official Rangers Twitter account, Gerrard hailed Middleton as a potentially “wonderful player” and claimed “if I was a full-back, I wouldn’t want to play against him”.
??SG: Glenn (Middleton) is doing great, he's hungry and he wants to learn. If I was a full-back I wouldn't want to play against him. If he becomes an expert out of position he will be a wonderful player.
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) September 21, 2018
OPINION
Gerrard made plenty of big calls in Spain; axing Nikola Katic, throwing Joe Worrall in at the deep end, plumping for Middleton as Rangers flagged in the second half ahead of £2.5million summer signing Eros Grezda. None paid off better than the introduction of Middleton with 20 minutes remaining. The 18-year-old, who was signed from Norwich City in the January transfer window, made his most decisive contribution yet in a Gers shirt, impressing with his quick feet as well as smart link-up play, most notably for Lafferty’s beautifully crafted goal. Crucially, Gerrard is a huge fan of the teenager and has predicted huge things for him if he learns what to do when out of his normal playing position. In typical self-deprecating style, the manager claims he wouldn’t want to play against the youngster. Maybe not now he wouldn’t. A decade-and-a-half ago? That might have been different.