Rangers let exciting young ace leave for £0, now he’s outscoring Tavernier

Glasgow Rangers return to action in the Scottish Premiership this weekend as they travel away from Hampden Park to take on Dundee United on Sunday.

The Light Blues went into the first international break of the 2024/25 campaign sitting five points adrift of Celtic and Aberdeen at the top of the table, after winning two of their first four matches.

Philippe Clement‘s side were humbled, with a 3-0 defeat, in the Old Firm last time out and will be looking to respond strongly with a convincing win later this week.

It has been a disappointing start to the season for the Scottish giants, who were also held to a 0-0 draw by Hearts on the opening day, as they already find themselves lagging behind in the title race.

Rangers need to find their groove and hit a consistent run of form to give themselves a chance of catching up with Celtic and providing real competition for the title by May.

James Tavernier is one player who may be crucial to their chances if he remains a Rangers player, amid reports linking him with a possible move to Turkey or Qatar.

James Tavernier’s form this year

The right-back is a big source of goals and assists for the Light Blues with his ability to push forward and make a difference in the final third, whilst also being a terrific penalty and set-piece taker.

However, there are question marks over his quality out of possession after another slip-up in an Old Firm clash, as he allowed Daizen Maeda to get the run on him for the first goal and got lucky with Reo Hatate’s huge miss after failing to pick up the midfielder at the back post.

Last year, former Rangers defender Steven Whittaker claimed that Tavernier needs to work on his defensive work, which still appears to be the case based on his latest showing against Celtic.

Tavernier does, though, make up for some of his defensive faults with his work on the ball. The 32-year-old ace has plundered eight goals and seven assists in all competitions in 2024 for the Light Blues.

As you can see in the table above, the English full-back has yet to find the back of the net in the Premiership this season, but has provided two assists.

Rangers need Tavernier to get back to his goalscoring best to ensure that the team gets back to winning ways and starts to move closer to the top of the table.

One former Gers player whose current form suggests that he could have been a big asset as a goalscorer to Clement is ex-academy starlet Lewis Morgan, who the club fumbled.

Rangers fumbled Lewis Morgan

The Scottish forward joined the academy set-up in Glasgow at the age of eight and spent eight years there before being released at the age of 16 in 2012.

He later revealed that Rangers wanted to have the biggest, physical, players in the country in his age group and that meant that Morgan was deemed surplus to requirements, due to his physical stature.

The winger used his rejection at Ibrox to motivate him to push on and forge a career for himself elsewhere, which is exactly what he did over the subsequent years.

St Mirren swooped to sign him on a free transfer from Rangers ahead of the 2012/13 campaign and the talented youngster went on to make the breakthrough at senior level there, with 29 goals and 23 assists in 118 appearances in all competitions.

His form convinced Celtic to bring him back to Glasgow, on the other side, in January 2018 but his spell with the Hoops did not go to plan in the end.

His time in green and white ended with a return of just two goals and three assists in 31 appearances in all competitions, whilst he also managed two goals and four assists in 22 games for Sunderland on loan in that time.

Celtic opted to cash in on the attacker in January 2020 amid interest from MLS side Inter Miami, where Morgan produced seven goals and seven assists in 58 matches before being sold to New York Red Bulls at the end of 2021.

Lewis Morgan’s form in 2024

The 27-year-old star enjoyed a terrific first campaign with New York as he plundered an eye-catching 18 goals and three assists in 37 outings in 2022.

He then suffered a hip injury that resulted in him only being able to make six appearances in all competitions in 2023, before his return to form this term.

Morgan has been on fire in 2024 and has racked up more goals in the MLS than Tavernier has managed in all competitions for Rangers this year.

As you can see in the table above, the Scotland international has scored four more goals than the Gers captain this year, and has outperformed his xG in the process.

The New York star may be frustrated by his teammates, meanwhile, for his low assist tally, as they have not made the most of the ‘big chances’ that he has created for them this year.

Last season, no Rangers midfielder or winger scored more than 11 league goals in the Premiership, which suggests that the potential is there for Morgan to be the biggest goal threat in his position at Ibrox.

The former Gers man could have been a huge asset to Clement in the final third but the Light Blues blundered by releasing the talented gem at academy level, instead of giving him an opportunity to develop and shine.

This may be a lesson to the current coaches in the academy that they should not give up on talented players if they are not physical enough at the age of 15, 16, or 17, as they still have plenty of time to grow and improve, which is exactly what Morgan did.