Why Rangers parting ways with Jordan Rossiter would make perfect sense
According to The Scottish Sun, Rangers midfielder Jordan Rossiter has admitted that his time at Ibrox is all but over, with the 22-year-old revealing that he is not in manager Steven Gerrard’s plans moving forward.
However, the former Liverpool academy graduate, who is currently enjoying a fruitful loan spell at Fleetwood Town in English League One under the stewardship of ex-Ger Joey Barton, remains thankful to the medical team at Ibrox for ending his injury nightmare. (h/t Scottish Sun)
Rossiter rose through the youth ranks at Liverpool and was handed his senior debut by Brendan Rodgers against Middlesbrough in a League Cup tie in the 2014-15 season.
The highly-rated central midfielder marked his professional bow with a goal but he never really lived up to the hype and made only 5 appearances across all competitions for Liverpool before departing Anfield to join Rangers on a free transfer in 2016.
The youngster’s time north of the border hasn’t gone according to the script, though, with Rossiter failing to establish himself as a regular at Ibrox due to his repeated struggles with injuries.
Former managers Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixhinha looked keen to offer him opportunities to prove himself but Rossiter found his involvement limited due to several calf and hamstring injuries stemming from a lower back problem.
Having returned from an extended spell on the sidelines, Rossiter made 5 appearances in the first half of the previous campaign under Gerrard but the writing seemed to be on the wall when he was shipped out on loan to Bury FC in the English fourth-tier in January, despite being fit and available for selection.
The 22-year-old was once again farmed out to Fleetwood Town earlier this summer and with his current contract at Ibrox set to expire in 2020, Rossiter, himself, knows very well that his time with the Light Blues is coming to an end.
The talented central midfielder has been a regular for Fleetwood in the middle of the park this term, starting all but one of the club’s first eleven league fixtures and putting in some impressive shifts to guide Barton’s side to 3rd in the standings.
To put things into perspective, Jordan Rossiter seems to have finally rediscovered his mojo at Fleetwood Town but given the current level of competition for places in the midfield in Gerrard’s first-team, the 22-year-old is likely to find it very tough to force himself back into the manager’s plans.
With several more established players and new summer recruits like Joe Aribo, Ryan Jack, Andy Halliday, Steven Davis, Scott Arfield and Glen Kamara competing for three roles in the middle of the park every week, it would hardly make any sense for Rangers to keep Rossiter at the club as a part of their plans moving forward.
That’s not to say the 22-year-old isn’t capable of reaching the heights that he had once promised as a teenage academy graduate at Anfield but his future at Rangers looks done and dusted, to be honest.
With that in mind, a permanent move elsewhere would allow him to start afresh when his contract at Rangers expires at the end of the ongoing season.
He has shown signs of getting back to his best at Fleetwood after putting all his injury nightmares behind him and Rossiter certainly has the potential to carve out a name for himself in the years to come.
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As a matter of fact, Fleetwood Town are in the race for automatic promotion in League One and, with Rossiter establishing himself as a regular, the Fishermen might look to snap him up for free at the end of the season if he continues his rich vein of form.
Suffice to say, Rangers parting ways with Jordan Rossiter is likely to be a fair settlement for all parties involved.