Rangers had twice attempted to sign teenage winger Curtis Jones on loan during the January transfer window, only to be rebuffed on both occasions, according to a report from Football Insider.
The Ibrox club initially expressed an interest in the 18-year-old in early January, as reported by Football Insider, who have since claimed that the ‘Gers made a second attempt to lure the Liverpool man to Glasgow towards the end of the month before the transfer window closed.
Jones has had a very promising start to 2020, scoring his first two senior goals for the club in FA Cup games against Everton and Shrewsbury along with making his second Premier League appearance as a late substitute against West Ham last week. He has also excelled at underage and reserve team level for Liverpool, scoring a hat-trick in a 7-0 UEFA Youth League thrashing of Napoli and netting nine times in 13 matches in Premier League 2 (as per TransferMarkt).
Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has previously utilised his Anfield connections to sign players from the Reds during his time at Ibrox, with Ryan Kent on loan at the ‘Gers last season before signing permanently in September 2019 and Sheyi Ojo spending this season on loan in Glasgow.
Like Jones, both of those play as wingers, with Kent scoring six goals and providing three assists this season while Ojo has five goals and seven assists. The former has played 1,661 minutes in 2019/20, averaging a goal per 276.83 minutes and an assist every 553.67 minutes. The latter has had 1,914 minutes of game-time, with one goal per 382.8 minutes and an assist every 273.43 minutes. Jones has played 324 minutes of first team football in 2019/20, with two goals (one per 162 minutes) and an assist to his name.
Gerrard trimmed his wide options in January by loaning out Jamie Murphy and Glenn Middleton to Burton Albion and Bradford respectively, along with selling Eros Grezda to Osijek, so Rangers’ inability to bring in Jones on loan could run the risk of them being short on alternatives to regular left winger Kent.
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Also, with the Liverpool youngster showing such promise and posting a better scoring average than Kent and Ojo, he could well have been an effective addition to the Ibrox ranks had they managed to bring him in during the winter transfer window.
They may go for him again in the summer considering that they managed to sign Kent after the Anfield club initially rejected Rangers’ loan offer last year, but a team that has scored just four goals in their last four league games and is now deprived of 17-goal striker Jermain Defoe for several weeks due to injury could likely have done with Jones for the remainder of this season after falling seven points behind Celtic in the Premiership title race.
Rangers fans, how disappointed are you that the January bids for Jones were unsuccessful? Do you think he could have made a telling impact had he come to Ibrox? Have your say by commenting below!
