During the latest edition of the Record Rangers podcast, Scott McDermott and Jonny McFarlane discussed all of the latest Rangers news and they spent some time talking about Bongani Zungu.
The 28-year-old South Africa international made his first appearance for Rangers since moving to Ibrox on loan from Ligue 2 side Amiens for the 2020/21 campaign in their last Premiership game before the current international break, as he came on as a substitute for the second half of the Glasgow club’s 8-0 Premiership win over Hamilton Academical.
Since then, Zungu participated in both of his national team’s most recent Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers versus Sao Tome and Principe, with the £1.44m-rated midfielder scoring a goal in the first of those two games.
However, despite making his first appearance for Rangers in their last Premiership game and impressing on international duty, McDermott cast some doubt over the likelihood of Zungu starting the Premiership leaders’ next league game versus Aberdeen on Sunday, saying:
“On Zungu – he did look pretty impressive when he came on against Hamilton but I think I would’ve looked pretty impressive coming on in that game! I wouldn’t read too much into that.
“He obviously went away and did well for South Africa in the week, he’s clearly just building himself back up again in terms of fitness and form, I think it’s going to take a while for him to really get up to speed and really take in what the manager wants from him at Rangers, the system, how they’re going to play.
“I certainly don’t expect him to start on Sunday, there’s every chance he’ll be on the bench again.”
Do you think Zungu should start vs Aberdeen?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts on what McDermott had to say about Zungu…
Considering that Rangers currently sit atop the Premiership table, winning 12 and losing none of their first 14 games of the campaign, it may be understandable why McDermott doesn’t think that Steven Gerrard will hand Zungu his first start for the Glasgow club on Sunday versus Aberdeen, as they may not want to tinker too much with their successful formula ahead of a clash versus the side that currently sits in third place on the league table, especially as Zungu was playing on a different continent as recently as Monday, so perhaps other options will be fresher than him.
With that in mind, we agree with McDermott and we also feel it’s unlikely that the central midfielder will start this game.