Barry Ferguson heaped praise on Liverpool attacker Sheyi Ojo after watching him feature for Rangers in the 4-0 win over St Joseph’s on Tuesday.
The former Rangers midfielder shared that the loaned-out Liverpool player looked powerful, strong, athletic and appeared to be a great runner with a good work ethic based on how he performed against St Joseph’s.
Ferguson added that Ojo clearly wasn’t the finished article otherwise he’d be at Anfield, not Ibrox, but it was clear he had enormous potential.
“He’s powerful, strong, athletic and a great runner with a good work ethic. Technically he’s really impressive and the way he took his goal on Tuesday night was classy and composed,” wrote Ferguson in his column for the Daily Record.
“Listen, it’s important not to put too much expectation on his young shoulders and to remember that he’s up here for a reason. If he was the finished article he’d be in the Liverpool squad by now.
“But none of that changes the fact that this is a young boy with enormous potential.”
Ferguson then praised Liverpool loaning players to Steven Gerrard’s Rangers, for example, Ryan Kent spent his 2018/19 on loan with the Scottish club, and claimed Ojo needed to prove his temperament during his loan spell.
“It’s effectively a fast track for these kids to prepare them for first-team football in the Premier League so it’s a genuine win-win situation for both sides,” added Ferguson.
“Ojo’s proved to them that he has the ability to go all the way. Now they need to see that he also has the temperament to handle it when he’s on a big stage.”
OPINION
While it’s fantastic to hear Ferguson heap praise on Liverpool loaning players to Rangers as well as hearing him praise Ojo in particular, is playing for Rangers really a fast track for the Reds youngsters to prepare themselves for Premier League football? While it’s true that playing for Rangers on a regular basis gives a player like Ojo vital experience, but excelling for the Scottish club surely won’t see Ojo feature for the Reds’ first-team next season. Kent wowed for the Gers in his 2018/19 campaign, scoring six goals and assisting nine in 43 outings for them, and it’s no guarantee Jurgen Klopp will consider using him next season. It’s debatable how good the top-flight of Scottish football is in comparison with the Premier League, so Kent may need to be tested by being loaned out to an English Championship side, to get any sniff of an opportunity at Anfield. It would be a similar case with Ojo especially when you consider his last two loan spells went so poorly. The 22-year-old only averaged a disappointing rating of 6.22 across 15 league outings while on loan at French side Reims last season and only racked up four goals when at Fulham in the Championship in his 2017/18 season, before they dropped him for the final portion of the season (Source: WhoScored).
