Let’s face it, we weren’t entirely sure that a loan in Scotland was the best idea for Gedion Zelalem.
That’s not to detract away from the football up there but to point to the fact that he’s built like a twig and looks like he could snap in a stiff Glasgow breeze.
But we were wrong.
Not only has he shown that he can deal with the rigours of life in the Scottish Championship as well as the pressure that comes from playing for a club as huge as Rangers, he has blossomed and is showing all of the skill that has had us so excited for the past couple of seasons as we wait to see if he can really make the step up to the top level.
In a piece on ‘Ibrox Noise’, the youngster is described in glowing terms, the author stating that ‘the deep-lying playmaker has been a polished and high-quality addition to the Rangers’ engine room, with assists and composed, calm play, picking out the right passes at the key times and dictating the pace.’
Gedion himself has been speaking to the Rangers‘ official site, referring back to when Arsenal beat Galatasaray 4-1 in Istanbul, the last competitive game he played for the Gunners as a comparison to the disappointment Rangers’ players felt after only winning 3-0 at the weekend against Livingston.
“I remember playing against Galatasaray in the Champions League last year when I came on in the second-half and they had played really well in the first half.
“But Lukas Podolski scored the fourth goal and he was telling us “This is awful” while we were celebrating, so the standards here are similar to Arsenal.
“We are happy we got the win but we all know that the standards we have set ourselves have got to be better than that.
“I thought we were sloppy at times on the ball but we got the three points at the end of it all.
“The standards had dropped and we all knew that right after the game and we exchanged some words in the dressing room but it was all good things and it definitely won’t happen again.
“We had a good training session today, we were sharper, the intensity was very high and I think we are over Saturday now and we will just concentrate on Dumbarton.
“We said after the game that it has to be better and that the fans expect more and we expect more from ourselves.
“We said that we can’t stay complacent because if we do then one team will have their best day and we will have our worst.”
He went on to add, “The training standard had dropped a little bit in the last week and that was probably part of it because you have to train the way that you play.
“Most of us would admit we had dropped our standard in training and you could see that on Saturday but today training has been really good and our standards are up high again.
“I think maybe we had become a bit complacent, we had just won 5-0 against Raith and I had just come back from the international break but that won’t happen again and we are focussed.
“You see the best teams in the world, the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich and they are at it every day in training and every game.
“I definitely didn’t play as well as I had against Raith Rovers and I’m disappointed not to have scored yet but that will come.
“I need to add goals to my game, a lot of people have said that but my first thought it always to look for the next player and to get to that next level I think I have to have goals.
“We do a lot of finishing here which is very good for me and my development and we practice free-kicks but Tav is taking all of those right now!”
Gedion has played a total of 313 minutes for Rangers so far this season in three games, creating three assists, all of which can be seen here and here.