Rangers are on the verge of making their eighth signing of the summer with AS Roma striker Umar Sadiq expected to join the club on a season-long loan.
This week Gerrard had confirmed the club’s interest in the 21-year-old and now Sadiq’s former teammate Karol Mets has revealed that Rangers are about to make a fine signing.
Mets, who was Umar Sadiq’s teammates last season at Breda has said: “I actually sat next to Umar in the Breda dressing-room when he came to us in the winter transfer window.
“He’s a really positive guy, a bit of a joker in the dressing-room, very easy-going.
“I liked him a lot — we talked a lot because we could both speak English.
“When you look at him — this slim, 6ft 4in guy — you think he’s going to be a target man. But there’s a lot more to him than that.
“He’s lightning-quick and, for that reason, he played a lot of games for Breda on the wing.
“One-on-one he’s very good and because of that, you have to mark him very tightly.
“In a lot of ways, he’s a pain in the ass, in a good way. He’s so unpredictable you don’t really know what’s coming next from him. He’s got the X-factor in that sense.
“Having played against him in training I know he’s a tough kind of guy to mark.
“He can create things for himself because he has good close control and ability and he’ll make things happen for the team. When he came to us he had a knack for scoring against the big clubs in Holland — he got goals against PSV Eindhoven, AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord in the few months he was at the club.
“He has that big-game mentality, he doesn’t shrink away from a big occasion.
“At the end of the season, I hoped that he might stay with us because he’d been a good signing and helped get us away from the relegation area.
“But he’d been on loan at Torino before he came to us and I knew he would probably go back to Italy.
“I’m glad things are going well for him in his career because I enjoyed his company in the team.
“If he has the chance to go and play at Rangers that will be good for him because it’s a big club in a big football country.
“The prospect of working for a coach like Steven Gerrard will be very exciting for him.
“He still has things about the game to learn but he’s a player with a lot of flair and I hope it goes well for him in Scotland.”
Umar Sadiq has reportedly agreed to join Rangers as claimed by close friend and the deal is expected to be wrapped up by the end of this week.
Read: Here are the fan favourites to win the Scottish League next season.
Read: Rangers midfielder talks about his season-ending tackle and what he thinks about the former manager’s diplomatic answer.
Read: Gerrard willing to burn his pockets in order to land his eight signing.
Read: Here’s why FIFA are paying £10,000 per day to Maradona.
