Rangers close to signing Dujon Sterling: New role for James Tavernier?

According to the Athletic, Dujon Sterling will be signing a contract as a Rangers player within the next weeks, making him the second addition to Michael Beale’s squad revamp. The versatile full back has been playing as a right wing back whilst on loan at Stoke and has also deputised as right sided centre half of a back three, as well as left wing back.

We have seen Beale switch to a back three during games, so could this be something that we see going into the 2023/24? We all know that James Tavernier’s attacking qualities are never to be questioned, creating the most chances and has the third highest goal contributions in the league. But throughout his career at Rangers, he’s been under constant criticism from the light blues faithful for his defensive capabilities and his lack of a trophy cabinet that is required to be a captain. And whilst they are all valid criticisms, he certainly has a role to play in the squad, could that be as a right winger or as a wing back with Sterling dropping into right centre half.

A partner for Conor Goldson has been found difficult to come by. His best partner has been Filip Helander but the big swede has struggled to stay fit. This season Ben Davies has been lacklustre, John Souttar has come into his own recently but maybe a back three could be a good fit to accentuate the positives and hide the negatives of the two. The former Chelsea youngster has never scored a professional goal so his attacking output is severely downed by Tavernier, therefore maybe a role at centre half could be the future.

With Sterling potentially making his way through the door, could that mean a change of position or a pace on the bench for the opposing full back in Borna Barisic. Much like Tavernier, the Croatian international’s attacking output can’t be disputed. Topping Rangers for assists and second for big chance creation but the same constant mistake at the back post, which has seen Rangers constantly lose goals to Celtic, has left Rangers fans tearing their hair out. The defensive awareness isn’t good enough to be a Rangers full back and challenge for titles.

Having already spent £5 million on Ridvan Yilmaz and Sterling being able to deputise as a left wing back, the Croatian has a year left on his deal, so this could be the end of Barisic at Rangers.

Sterling has received a lot of praise from Stoke fans with some talking about how they wished he could sign him, but Beales come in and supposedly got him which is a great start. His versatility gives Beale many options, but he should be the first of many with many positions needed. Jack Butland in goal being rumoured and Kieran Dowell as a versatile attacker already confirmed. Beale has already come out and said it could be 12 in and 12 out for Rangers which has been needed so long.