Aaron Ramsey will see Rangers as a ‘strategic’ stop on his route back to the Premier League, Danny Mills has told Football Insider.
The lowdown
On transfer deadline day last week, Rangers signed the 31-year-old on loan from Juventus until the end of the 2021/22 season.
The Welshman had played just 112 minutes of football for the Bianconeri during the first half of the campaign. That was in large part down to a succession of muscular injuries, followed by a positive virus test in the new year (via Transfermarkt).
Ramsey got 14 minutes under his belt as a substitute in Rangers’ 5-0 victory over Hearts on Sunday and may figure more heavily in midweek against Hibernian.
The latest
Mills thinks that Ramsey decided moving straight to the Premier League would have been too difficult after playing so little football, viewing a move to Rangers as an opportunity to ‘regain some fitness’ and look to catch the eye of ‘Premier League suitors’ ahead of the summer.
The former England defender said of the 31-year-old’s move to Ibrox: “He’s maybe looked at it and thought to go straight into a Premier League side and he knows what the Premier League is all about, was probably going to be really difficult because of the lack of game time.
“It would have been really hard to get up to speed quick enough. There’s more of an opportunity to make an impact at Rangers, away from the spotlight.
“He can go in there, regain some fitness and have some good performances at what is a slightly lower level.
“Then he can look to get a Premier League move in the summer. It’s a strategic move, I would say. If he does well, there will be Premier League suitors out there looking at him.”
The verdict
Rangers may not mind being used as a means to an end if Ramsey can stay fit and prove to be the difference in this season’s Premiership title race. Indeed, just last year, he was dubbed ‘incredible’ by international team-mate Joe Allen after an ‘incredible’ showing for Wales at the European Championship.
In truth, the club probably expect it to be a short-term stay anyway. The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell has reported that there is no option to buy in the loan agreement because the player’s wages would be ‘prohibitive’.
It’s worth noting that the loan move was only possible in the first place because Juventus agreed to a manageable wage split, so Mills’ observations about Ramsey using Ibrox as a window to returning to the English top flight seem plausible.
In other news, Rangers have been gifted a contract boost.