Glasgow Rangers need Jermain Defoe more than the Rangers striker needs them.

The 38-year-old is used to playing at the highest level, but finds himself below Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe in the pecking order, as he was axed from Steven Gerrard's Europa League squad to make room for new summer recruit Bongani Zungu.

But, after Defoe found the net for the third time in six games in the previous fixture against Falkirk in the Betfred Cup, it's fair to say that the Ibrox boss was wrong to sideline one of his best strikers.

Whilst the wily veteran has only scored three times so far this season, he has still scored the same amount of goals as Cedric Itten and Ianis Hagi combined, and he was the club's top scorer in the Scottish Premiership last season.

Gerrard must regret his decision to axe the former Tottenham Hotspur striker from his Europa League squad as Itten has struggled to hit the ground running so far, scoring just two goals in 14 games this season, via Transfermarkt.

The Swiss international is simply too young, too fresh and too raw, whereas Defoe has been there, seen it and done it all at European level.

Marlon Harewood recently described his former teammate as an "unbelievable" talent in an exclusive interview with FFC and it's easy to see why.

In five appearances in the Europa League in the 2013/14 campaign, he scored seven goals for Spurs, including a brace against Tromso IL in the group stages.

The former England international appears to be back to his very best, having shaken off a recurring hamstring injury at the start of the season, as his performance against Falkirk at the weekend showed that perfectly.

Valued at £1.3m via Transfermarkt, the monster centre-forward has scored one goal and supplied an assist in his past three games in all competitions.

There's no doubt that Gerrard has put himself in a tough position by dropping him from the Europa League squad, as an injury crisis or positive coronavirus cases could quickly cause problems, as Itten cannot be expected to lead the line.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers wonderkid Chris McKee is the ideal heir to Jermain Defoe...