Joey Veerman will show Rangers what they're missing insists former mentor who was 'blown away' by Ibrox intensity

Steven Gerrard quit Ibrox viewing Joey Veerman as the one that got away. Now the coach who gave the PSV ace his big break has warned Rangers they will have extra reason to rue their former gaffer’s failure to get his man if they don’t get to grips with him on Wednesday night.

The story behind Gerrard ’s foiled interest in Veerman is one of the many intriguing sub-plots surrounding this week’s final Champions League eliminator at the Philips Stadion. Gerrard started his final few months in Scotland desperate to get his hands on Veerman, then starring for unfashionable Dutch outfit Heerenveen.

But when the cash required to meet the now 23-year-old’s £7million asking price failed to materialise, it proved to be the beginning of the end for Gerrard’s Ibrox tenure. Within weeks he was grumbling about how Gers “hadn’t spent a penny” over the course of the previous two windows. By November the former Liverpool icon had jumped ship to Aston Villa.

Now it’s down to successor Gio van Bronckhorst to deal with the aftermath of that failed pursuit, with Veerman now staring for PSV Eindhoven – the side who stand between the Light Blues and a return to the Champions League groups for the first time in 12 years.

But Robert Molenaar, the former Leeds and Bradford defender who handed Veerman his pro debut when he was starting out with boyhood club Volendam in 2016, expects to see him playing a far bigger role in Wednesday’s second leg than he managed in the 2-2 draw in Glasgow.

“Rangers missed their chance,” he told Record Sport . “If Joey succeeds at PSV then he’ll be moving from Eindhoven to an even bigger club, maybe in England, Italy or Spain. He’s had a great first year but needs to keep going.

“But he had an impact with