Steven Gerrard is putting his Liverpool connections to good use at Rangers.
The former Reds captain has supplemented his Ibrox squad and coaching staff with talent from Anfield for his first season as a manager.
Here we take a look at who the Rangers boss has brought in from Liverpool…
PLAYERS
Jon Flanagan
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Rangers signed former Liverpool defender Flanagan on a free transfer in June. The 25-year-old signed a two-year deal and will hope to get his career back on track after both on and off-field problems.
After a breakthrough season playing alongside Gerrard in 2013/14, a knee injury kept him out for over 600 days and, despite signing a Liverpool contract until 2019, loan spells with Burnley and Bolton followed. Flanagan was then sentenced to 40 hours of unpaid work and a 12-month community order in January for assaulting his girlfriend.
Gerrard has handed the defender a second chance – although Flanagan did miss a rehabilitation session in May – and the full-back is keen to rebuild at Rangers. “When I spoke to Stevie, it was a no-brainer for me,” Flanagan said, when asked why he had chosen to join the Scottish Premiership side.
Ovie Ejaria
Talented Liverpool youngster Ejaria sealed a season-long loan to Rangers and signed and extended his contract with the Reds on the same day in early June.
The 20-year-old, who helped England’s U20s win the World Cup last year, spent the second half of last season with Sunderland in the Championship and will continue his progress under Gerrard’s tutelage in 2018/19.
“He’s an exciting player, very skilful,” said Gerrard. “He’ll have the crowd on the edge of their seats and fits the profile that we were looking for in the midfield area.”
Ryan Kent
Gerrard’s latest Liverpool recruit is Kent, a 21-year-old winger who has had previous loan spells at Coventry, Barnsley, Freiburg and Bristol City.
Kent struggled for first-team action at Freiburg and Bristol City last season, so will be eager for game time at Ibrox.
“I think I have to probe a lot of people wrong from last season,” Kent said. “Rangers have got a person in charge now in Steven Gerrard who has played at the highest level and achieved many great things.”
COACHING STAFF
Gary McAllister
Gerrard appointed his former midfield partner McAllister as his assistant at Rangers. The ex-Scotland midfielder has managed Coventry and Leeds previously, and had a short spell coaching at Liverpool in 2015.
After three years out of the game, McAllister – who won an FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup and Super Cup with Liverpool – will play a pivotal role alongside Gerrard.
“The lure of the club, the profile of the club means it is one of the few jobs in all honesty that I would have come back into,” he told Rangers TV. “I am honoured that [Gerrard] asked me.”
Michael Beale
Former Liverpool U23 coach Beale is now part of Gerrard’s first-team coaching set-up. Kent credited the presence of his former youth team coach at the club as one of the major reasons he joined Rangers and Beale carries a good reputation in the game, having also worked in Chelsea’s youth system.
Ben Woodburn, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Wilson are among the Liverpool starlets to play under Beale in the Reds’ academy and the coach also has experience of working Brazil, after a stint with Sao Paulo.
Tom Culshaw
Culshaw and Gerrard go way back and now work together again at Rangers after coaching Liverpool’s U18s. As a youngster, Culshaw played in the year above Gerrard in Liverpool’s academy and stepped up from working with the U15s to assist Gerrard in his first coaching role at Anfield.
Jordan Milsom
Gerrard knows Milsom well from his Liverpool coaching spell – Milsom was lead fitness coach for Gerrard’s U18s team, having previously worked with the first team at Anfield. Milsom is now head of performance at Rangers and will be responsible for overseeing the squad’s fitness.
“It was a privilege to work for my boyhood club. Now on to a new challenger working for Rangers,” Milsom tweeted at the start of June.
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Sourse: skysports.com
