It’s the saga that seemingly never ends. Finally though, there looks to be an end in sight to the Jake Hastie transfer story if Stephen Robinson and Steven Gerrard’s comments are anything to go by.
Rangers boss Gerrard told the Daily Mail at his pre-match press conference: “It’s no secret that there’s an interest [in the Motherwell winger].”
Well manager Robinson also confirmed Hastie would be moving on, telling Clyde 1 the youngster “won’t for sign for me.”
Robinson looks set to lose Hastie. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Clyde 1 have since reported that the winger has tied up a pre-contract with Rangers and will join the Ibrox club at the end of the season.
There was no shortage of interest in the winger, but this move will leave a bitter taste in the mouth of Well fans.
Just a few months ago, Hastie told the BBC that “I don’t want to go anywhere” and that he wanted to stay at Fir Park to “keep progressing.”
The winger has went back on his word. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
It seems like the offer of Rangers was too tempting for the youngster to turn down, with an uncertain first team future ahead of him now.
A wise move?
First of all Hastie shouldn’t start another game for Motherwell. Robinson has plenty of young talent at his disposal and squad players who deserve a chance. The winger is not part of his plans seemingly, so he should be benched or dropped altogether for the final four games.
There’s two ways of looking at this. From a football point of view, this doesn’t make much sense. Hastie isn’t going to get anywhere near as much game time as he would get at Fir Park. He’ll be bench fodder for Gerrard next season. Hastie isn’t ready to be a first team player for Rangers.
The youngster will not see as many minutes next term. (photo by David Young/Action Plus via Getty Images)
He’s only made a handful of starts for the Steelmen. The winger performed excellently after returning from a loan spell at Alloa, but has been off the boil recently amidst the speculation. He’s not played a long stretch of games yet on decent form. The potential is there, whether he can fulfil it remains to be seen.
On the other side you need to look at it from a financial point of view. Rangers will be offering him decent money, much more than Motherwell can offer anyway. This move has the potential to set him up financially, that lure alone is hard for anyone in any walk of life to turn down.
Some may be glad this is pretty much over now. Both parties can now move on and focus on other matters. Motherwell will be disappointed to lose Hastie, especially since it’s unlikely he’ll get much Premiership action next term.