Steven Gerrard admits he will not stand in the way of Ovie Ejaria cutting short his time at Rangers and returning to Liverpool in January.
Strange circumstances have seen the Reds loanee linked with an early recall after he deleted his Twitter page as well as any trace linking him to Rangers from his Instagram account.
The 21-year-old was also left out of Gerrard’s squad for Thursday night’s Europa League defeat to Rapid Vienna, following on from his demotion to the bench in the 1-1 draw with Dundee.
Seemingly unhappy at the Scottish club, Ejaria is now set for talks over his future with both Gerrard and Liverpool.
On the possibility of his loan deal being terminated, Gerrard said: “Sitting here right now, that’s a concern,” per the Express.
“I need to have an honest conversation with Ovie and see where his head’s at and where he sees his future.”
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“I also plan to speak to Liverpool and we’ll see where those conversations go. The reality is he’s a Liverpool player and they have almost got to take charge of this.”
“Ovie is a very quiet kid, he doesn’t give you much. I might have to dig deep to try to find out what’s going on. Yes, we’ve got a loan situation with Ovie but we wouldn’t keep a kid who was unhappy.”
Ejaria has blown hot and cold during his time in Scotland so far, supplying flashes of a familiar flair and ingenuity as well as struggling to match the league’s physicality at times.
He has been something of a prominent figure at the Ibrox, starting 23 of his 28 appearances across all competitions.
Whether the reason is personal or football related, no manager wants to see a young player struggle during his development.