OPINION
Striker Carlos Pena reportedly has no future at Rangers as the Mexico international prepares to return to the club in January, and Steven Gerrard must make his sale a priority in the upcoming window.
According to Scott McDermott, the chief football writer at the Sunday Mail, the 28-year-old striker is set to return from a loan spell in his homeland in January, but is unlikely to be welcomed back into the fold.
Speaking on the Record Rangers podcast [17:50], McDermott said: “I don’t believe anyone at Rangers, including Steven Gerrard, believes that there’s any real future for him.”
This will come as no surprise to anyone involved at the club, with Pena’s poor first season at Ibrox now followed by a shambolic time in Mexico which has seen the striker discarded by both Cruz Azul and Nacaxa.
The 28-year-old showed glimpses of his talent during his time at Rangers but never really settled in, and the chances of him doing so under Gerrard upon his return are extremely slim.
The main problem here for Rangers is Pena’s wages, with the Mexico international earning a ridiculous £26,000-a-week at Ibrox [Scottish Sun].
That easily puts him amongst the highest earners at the club currently, and for a player who has been cast out that is now damaging the club badly.
Offloading Pena permanently in January must now become a priority for Gerrard and his staff, with Pena’s pay packet limiting their options massively in the market.
The club should not even be too bothered about the price they get for Pena – they have already lost so much money on him, and must simply stop him bleeding them dry from the sidelines.
Getting rid of him will free up some significant wage space and allow Gerrard to further stamp his mark on a Rangers squad which is improving window-by-window.