Does Millwall's poor defensive record mean Cooper would've been waste of Rangers' money?
Steven Gerrard was reportedly willing to pay £3m to bring Jake Cooper to Rangers this summer, on the back of Millwall’s hugely successful 2017/19 season.
The towering defender was seen as the man who could be the bedrock of the Gers’ defence, but that mantle has fallen to former Brighton man Conor Goldson instead.
Gerrard’s new-look defensive unit is not perfect yet but Goldson is doing an impressive job following his move north of the border.
Meanwhile, Cooper and Millwall are enduring a rather less impressive season. Neil Harris’ side look to be suffering from a serious bout of second-season syndrome and find themselves in the Championship’s bottom three.
(Photo by James Williamson – AMA/Getty Images)
More worryingly for Cooper, the defence he has started every game in has only kept one clean sheet in the league so far this season.
Obviously, that is not solely down to him but it does not inspire much confidence that he could have made the improvement expected for a relatively large outlay; especially in the Europa League.
Getting Goldson and not Cooper looks to have been a blessing in disguise with the way their respective campaigns are panning out.
Cooper has not been a part of a league shutout since August. Rangers needed better than that; thankfully they got it and didn’t shell out for the 23-year-old.
