At the time, there was some debate over whether Rangers should have accepted the £10million bid lodged by Leeds United for Ryan Kent last month.
The 23-year-old had enjoyed a reasonably successful first season following his £7m permanent move from Liverpool last summer, but the winger played much of the campaign within himself. There was often a sense he was capable of more.
And so Leeds’ reported offer of £10m offered Rangers the chance to recoup the money paid for Kent, and a little bit more.
The Ibrox club held firm in their valuation, though, and have been vindicated in this stance in the month since. Kent now looks to be worth at least twice that amount.
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Something has clicked in the mind of the 23-year-old. Maybe it’s the additional responsibility that has been placed on his shoulders with Alfredo Morelos seemingly on his way out of Rangers this summer. Maybe the Ibrox club’s refusal to cash in has given Kent a boost of confidence.
Whatever it is, he is playing his best football to date.
“He hasn't let any interest affect him,” Steven Gerrard explained after Saturday’s 4-0 win over Dundee United, in which Kent scored.
“He’s used it as a compliment that people are enjoying what they're seeing in terms of his form. He's scoring goals and looking very dangerous. He is going to get more interest, and we are going to get more interest and phone calls over Ryan Kent because he's a fantastic player.”
With four goals from seven games, Kent is the joint-top scorer in the Scottish Premiership this season, firing off an average of 4.1 shots per game. Only Ryan Christie has averaged more (4.2 - as per WhoScored).
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He is also the division’s most prolific dribbler, averaging 3.1 per game and is among the Scottish top flight’s top key pass-makers (2.6 per game).
Kent has become the focus of Rangers’ attacking play. While Morelos was once the apex of Steven Gerrard’s side, now it’s the Englishman through which the majority of their game plays through.
There has been a change of onus and Kent is coping with that better than ever looked likely on the basis of his performances last season.
The 23-year-old is notably more proactive in his approach play. While Kent would tend to spin after receiving the ball and spray a pass out to a teammate before making another run, now he is more likely to spin and drive himself towards the opposition. This either opens up space or draws a defender out of position.
There are a number of areas in which Rangers must improve if they are to truly challenge Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership table this season.
For starters, they must eradicate the post-Christmas wobbles that have afflicted them in each of the last two seasons. But Gerrard also needs his best players to maintain their form over the entire campaign. Kent is undoubtedly one of Rangers’ best players.
The £7m Rangers paid for him just over a year ago placed an expectation on the Englishman that he was generally unable to meet last season. It put a burden on him.
This season, though, the price tag placed on his head by the Ibrox club seems to have had the opposite effect.
