Steven Gerrard cools talk of an England call-up for Rangers winger Ryan Kent

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard believes his in-form winger Ryan Kent is in a long queue of wide men waiting for the opportunity to play for England.

Ryan Kent has been in impressive form for Rangers this season with five goals and five assists so far in the Ibrox side's current 16-match unbeaten run. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

The 23-year-old, last capped by his country at under-20 level back in 2015, has been one of the stand-out performers for Rangers in their unbeaten start to the season in the Scottish Premiership and Europa League.

It prompted Rangers assistant-manager Gary McAllister to suggest recently that Kent may be on the radar of England head coach Gareth Southgate. But former England captain Gerrard believes Kent has to focus solely on his club career for the moment while Southgate is able to call on wide players such as Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Harvey Barnes.

“I don’t know what Gareth is looking for,” said Gerrard. “But I know he has a luxury of wide men available. He’s got wide men who are producing the goods consistently in the English Premier League and Bundesliga.

“If you look at the England team and squad at the moment, you would actually say that is the strongest position.

“So it’s certainly a big challenge, not just for Ryan but for any young English winger who has ambitions of representing England.

“You are talking about players worth over £100 million in there, so it’s certainly a huge challenge.

“But that’s not important to me at the moment - I don’t know how important it is to Ryan. The priority has to be here at Rangers.

“This should be the bread and butter of his focus and he has started the season in a fantastic place. His form has been really, really good."

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