Umar Sadiq has provided an incredible insight into the Steven Gerrard regime- claiming that he is still owed money and was fined £20,000 for liking an Instagram post.
In the summer the Roma striker was hailed as a key signing by Gerrard after agreeing to a season long loan with the usual comparisons to Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibriahimovic.
The reality was somewhat different with Kyle Lafferty drafted in at the end of August and Sadiq dumped out of the squad with the summer predictions quickly forgotten.
With Lafferty and Alfredo Morelos unavailable for the Betfred Cup semi-final against Aberdeen in October Sadiq came in from the cold and was blamed for the defeat which ended the club’s interest in the first trophy of the season.
Reflecting on the arrival of Lafferty the Nigerian striker told the Sunday Post: “All of a sudden, I was told that I could not use the first-team dressing-room any more. Instead I had to go change with the kids.
“Then, after a few days, I was also forbidden to park my car inside the training centre.
“I felt humiliated and kept asking what was the reason for the change of attitude. But I never received any answers. Gerrard wouldn’t give any explanation about it, neither to me nor my representatives.”
He added: “I believe absolutely that I was not given a fair chance to show what I can do. They made me feel like a stranger.
“I started only once (in the League Cup semi-final against Aberdeen) and that was when there were no other strikers available. As I say, for me everything went wrong after they brought in another striker (Lafferty).
“Once I put a ‘like’ on Instagram to a post from a fan – and I was fined £20,000, which was absurd and Rangers didn’t even pay me up everything I was due. They still have to give me my salary for December.
“I honestly don’t care how they do. As long as I was a Rangers player, I behaved like a professional, giving everything I could of myself to the shirt but now I don’t want to hear about them and what they are doing any more.
“In my opinion, they behaved in a disrespectful way to me, both as a player and as a person.
“When it ended, Steven Gerrard didn’t even have the courage to talk to me and tell me what was happening face-to-face.
“That was a surprise to me. I didn’t expect such behaviour. How he will do long-term as a manager, I do not know. That is his business and I have my own career to think about.”
Sadiq’s loan spell was cut short in December as was Liverpool starlet Ovie Ejaria despite starting 23 matches before Christmas.
Boyata absence seems as if it’s not football or injury relatedhttps://t.co/XPZLeYDncn
— Joe McHugh (@videocelts) March 24, 2019
TRENDING: Listen in as deluded Morelos fan loses the plot on Clyde’s Super Scoreboard @videocelts https://t.co/1cdyChnhKz
— Celtic news now (@Celticnewsnow) March 23, 2019