Let's face it, Glasgow Rangers winger Brandon Barker has failed to make the most of his second chance under Steven Gerrard. The former England U20 international, who was widely tipped to leave the Ibrox outfit, was given a big opportunity alongside Alfredo Morelos on the right wing, with Ianis Hagi named on the bench in the first Old Firm derby of the season.

Although Rangers romped to a 2-0 win over their arch-rivals Celtic, it's fair to say that he didn't really do much, if anything at all, to justify his place in the starting line-up.

The Independent gave him an average grade of 6/10, claiming "he ran hard, but ultimately didn’t provide too much of an impact before being replaced", whilst The Daily Record gave him the same score, saying he was "handed a big opportunity on the sides of Morelos and was urged by his manager to start offering a bit more with just a quarter of the contest having elapsed."

Since then, Barker was subsequently dropped to the bench for the game against Standard Liege in the Europa League group stages, whilst he wasn't even named in the squad for the 2-0 win over Livingston last weekend, which implies that Gerrard's patience is rapidly wearing thin.

And with reports over the summer suggesting that Gerrard's side were keeping tabs on Newcastle United winger Jacob Murphy, it may be time for the Light Blues to cut their losses.

Reports in recent times had revealed that Murphy was interested in a loan move to the Ibrox outfit but Newcastle boss Steve Bruce wanted him to stay and fight for his place at St James' Park.

Whilst a move failed to materialise at the time, Rangers chief Ross Wilson must return for the attacking midfielder, who can play on the left or right flank, in the winter transfer window before it's too late.

Bye-bye Barker?

Bruce has heaped praise on Murphy for his return to form in recent weeks, but he will face a fight to fend off interest from elsewhere as he has entered the last year of his current contract.

The 25-year-old was given his time to shine against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League at the weekend and he seized the opportunity with open arms after he scored on his first start in the English top flight since 2018.

This season, Murphy is averaging 1.5 dribbles in the Premier League, via WhoScored, whilst Barker is only managing fewer than one dribble per game in the Scottish Premiership, as per WhoScored.

Once hailed as a talented player who has "great ability" by his teammate Rob Elliot, the Englishman arguably played some of the best football of his career whilst on loan at Sheffield Wednesday last term, where he scored nine goals and supplied four assists in the Championship, whilst he averaged 1.7 shots, 1.1 key passes and 1.7 dribbles per game via WhoScored. By comparison, Barker only managed to score one goal in the Scottish top tier last term, via Transfermarkt.

The versatile player was deployed as a full-back in a back five at Molineux, which suggests that he could provide injury cover and competition for club captain James Tavernier as well. We reckon Rangers would be better off binning Barker and bringing Murphy in instead. Get it done, Gers, by any means necessary.

AND in other news, Joe Aribo marks his Glasgow Rangers return with dominant display against Livingston...