PA Sport’s Andy Newport appeared on the latest edition of the Record Rangers podcast, during which he spent some time talking about the Gers’ alleged interest in signing Sheffield United midfielder John Lundstram.
Lundstram’s Sheffield United contract is set to expire at the end of the 2020/21 campaign, so he is now free to sign a pre-contract ahead of a summer move if he wishes to do so.
Rangers are said to be interested in luring the £7.2m-rated Blades man to Ibrox, per a report from The Athletic, which also explains that Lundstram could expect to earn as much as £40k-per-week at his next club, with the Englishman currently taking home £4k-per-week at Bramall Lane, per Spotrac.
However, with Lundstram playing in just one of the struggling Blades’ last six Premier League games – being left out of the matchday squad for four of them – Newport shared some uncertainty over whether or not he’s actually a great target for the Gers, saying of his game time: “I think that would raise question marks, what sort of level he’s at if he can’t get into a team performing as badly as Sheffield United are.”
Would you like Rangers to sign Lundstram?
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TIF Thoughts on what Newport had to say about Lundstram…
You could certainly argue that Lundstram is not having a great 2020/21 campaign. The 26-year-old has earned an overall WhoScored rating of just 6.26 in the Premier League – a lower rating than as many as 16 other Blades players have earned this term.
Per WhoScored, the midfielder has completed just 0.5 tackles and 0.4 interceptions per Premier League game, while his passing accuracy (82.3%) in the Premier League this term is lower than 17 current Rangers players’ passing accuracy for the 2020/21 Premiership campaign, including midfielders Bongani Zungu, Scott Arfield, Joe Aribo, Steven Davis, Ryan Jack and Glen Kamara.
Potential differences in Rangers’ and Sheffield United’s tactics must be considered when comparing these statistics, but at that, you could also argue that if Lundstram is used to playing in an entirely different system, he might find it difficult to adjust to Steven Gerrard’s tactics and a target who plays for a team more similar in style to Rangers might find it easier to transition to the Glasgow club, while it may also be easier to determine whether or not he’d be a good fit for the Gers.
All in all, it may be fair to say that Lundstram has not been displaying the kind of form that would excite many Rangers fans about his signing this term and Newport may be right to raise doubts over how good of a target he’d actually be for the Premiership leaders.