Steven Gerrard’s statement on Umar Sadiq’s future as Rangers play Livingston

Steven Gerrard signed AS Roma’s Umar Sadiq for Rangers in the summer transfer market

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has said that he intends on keeping loan signing Umar Sadiq past the Christmas period ahead of his team's game against Livingston in the Scottish Premiership. Sadiq is currently at the Ibrox outfit on a season-long loan deal from the Italian side. However, he has had a torrid start so far, playing only 26 minutes of football for Rangers and failing to make an impact. But it is believed that despite the start, Steven Gerrard wants to keep the Nigeria Under-23 international forward for the foreseeable future and wants him to prove he is good enough to play for the Scottish club. [caption id="attachment_201978" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Steven Gerrard outside the stadium prior to the Ladbrokes Premiership match between Livingston and Rangers. Credit: Getty Images[/caption] Asked by the Sunday Post if Sadiq would be sent back to Roma, Gerrard said: “It’s not something that we’ve thought about, and it’s not something we’d try and do. “What we want is the real, aggressive Sadiq. That’s we’ve paid for, that’s what we’ve asked for, that’s what we’ve got in. This is me trying a different way to get it out of him because I’ve tried other ways.” Sadiq has been a Roma player since 2016 after he impressed during a loan spell from Serie B side Spezia. Since penning a three-year deal with Roma, Sadiq has been loaned out to three other clubs. He failed to score during loan swaps to Bologna and Torino, but he did net five in 12 outings when he was loaned out to Dutch side NAC Breda.