Journalist Scott McDermott has given his thoughts on Rangers defender Connor Goldson and his future.
The 28-year-old is approaching a very critical time when it comes to his career at Ibrox. He is just about to enter the final six months of his contract, and with a new manager now in place, he may have to hit the ground running under the new boss to show him that he deserves a place in the team moving forward.
Meanwhile, given he was so often used by Steven Gerrard before his move to Aston Villa, Goldson may yet be a prime target as the former Gers boss gets to grips with his new side.
Speaking on the latest edition of the Record Rangers podcast, McDermott discussed the idea of whether or not Goldson would be likely to make the move south of the border to join up with Gerrard at Villa Park, but came to the conclusion that it was probably unlikely given the quality that he would be up against fighting for a place in the Villa side:
“I suppose Connor Goldson on a free transfer, maybe. But I think that would mainly be because he’s been a Gerrard lieutenant at Rangers and a guy he can trust. And again, getting him on a free, he might look to bring him into the squad.
“But Villa have got a lot of centre-backs, good quality centre-backs – Mings and Tuanzebe, Konsa and people like that. So I mean I’m not sure. Would Connor Goldson go straight into that Villa team? I’m not convinced.”
TIF Thoughts on Scott McDermott’s comments about Connor Goldson at Rangers…
Should Goldson be dropped by Rangers?
Yes, that was pathetic defending
No, give him time
Goldson was a very reliable figure for Gerrard during his time at Ibrox, very rarely missing any games as he racked up 182 appearances under the former England captain. However, whilst he is reliable when it came to availability, when it comes to his performances on the pitch, he hasn’t necessarily been up to scratch recently.
If you look at his statistics from this season in the Scottish Premiership, he doesn’t rank in the top five for the club in a number of key defensive categories like tackles, interceptions or blocks per game. He only really shows up when it comes to aerial duels, where he ranks second in the team with 4.1 per game, putting his 6’2” frame to good use (all stats via WhoScored).
Therefore, the stats would lend weight to McDermott’s theory that he wouldn’t make it into the Villa side.
So it will be interesting to see how Rangers handle him moving forward and whether or not the new manager will still see value in keeping him around despite his poor numbers, or whether they will look to move him on at some point in the future, perhaps during January whilst they still have a chance to make money from a sale, with his contract up in the summer.
In other news: ‘I’m told that’ – Fabrizio Romano drops big Van Bronckhorst update at Rangers