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Greg Stewart was announced as Steven Gerrard’s latest Rangers signing on Thursday, but it’s fair to say reaction to the deal isn’t as overwhelmingly positive as some at Ibrox would hope.
Many fans have let their feelings known they don’t regard him as having the quality required to make a serious impact at Ibrox.
Gerrard is obviously a fan, else he would not have handed him a two-year deal, but what does the Gers manager see in him and what kind of role will the former Aberdeen and Kilmarnock man play in his team?
The indoor football skills in the video below have to be seen to be believed…
On the chalkboard
One of Stewart’s main strengths as a squad player is his versatility. He’s able to play on the left or right flanks, through the middle as a team’s central striker or even sitting in behind a poacher as a creative link between midfield and attack.
Scoring ten goals and assisting ten times last season, the 29-year-old clearly has the ability to make an impact in the Scottish Premiership, and that’s before you even look at his prolific period at Dundee years ago before his switch to Birmingham.
Stewart scored 32 goals and assisted 27 times in 84 matches for the Dees across two seasons, a terrific output that Rangers would be thrilled to get from the player.
A big weakness of Rangers last season was not having the squad depth to compete on multiple trophy fronts, and not having the kind of spark who can enter a game and take the load off the team’s biggest players who may be having an off day.
It resulted it plenty of draws and difficult results. By bolstering his creative and attacking options, Gerrard is trying to ensure those kind of days could occur far less regularly next term.
Stewart may not be an automatic starter, but he can still contribute in key moments for the Ibrox side and in time could force his way into starting XIs on a regular basis, being able to fit into multiple positions.
At the very least he shouldn’t be written off as a signing dud before he’s had a chance to show if he can replicate his best form of the past.
