AS soon as Steven Gerrard indicated his desire to speak with Aston Villa, attention quickly turned to his potential replacement in the Ibrox hotseat.

Myriad names have been mooted but the one that stands out is former player Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

Betting was suspended earlier today at leading bookmaker SkyBet on the Dutchman taking over from Gerrard but what sort of manager would Rangers be getting should sporting director Ross Wilson make an offer?

As a player, he was idolised down Edmiston Drive after arriving from Feyenoord in the summer of 1998 as part of the Dick Advocaat revolution. He would play a vital role in the engine room as the club won the treble in his first season followed by the double the following year.

His departure for Arsenal for £8m in the summer of 2001 was met with disdain by many Rangers supporters but, like Gerrard, the lure of the Premier League proved to be too much of an opportunity to turn down. Unlike Gerrard however, van Bronckhorst was joining an elite club and would be part of the famous invincible side that won the Premier League in 2002.

His career would reach even greater heights at Barcelona where he’d win two La Liga titles and the Champions League under Frank Rijkaard before finishing his playing career at boyhood club Feyenoord.

READ MORE: Steven Gerrard makes Rangers 55 admission as he leaves Ibrox to join Aston Villa

In 2010, he would captain a Netherlands side that would reach the World Cup final in South Africa only to be narrowly beaten by an iconic Spanish team featuring Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

As a player he was exceptional and he carried his winning mentality into his early managerial career.

Having retired shortly after that World Cup final he embarked on his path into coaching and was appointed as assistant to Ronald Koeman at Feyenoord.

As Koeman left for Southampton in 2014, Fred Rutten was placed in charge for a season before van Bronckhorst took over in the summer of 2015.

Ably assisted by former Rangers coach Jan Wouters, van Bronckhorst led the Rotterdam club to the KNVB Cup in his first season in charge but finished a huge 21 points adrift of Eredivisie champions PSV, coming third in the league.

The following campaign saw a dramatic turnaround and the title return to De Kuip for the first time in 18 years as a Dirk Kuyt hat-trick on the final day saw them pip Ajax to the championship.

Season 2017-18 was a disappointment in a league sense as they finished 4th but did claim the KNVB Cup, beating AZ 3-0 in the final.

Their Champions League campaign was poor, losing five of their six games and finishing bottom of a tough group containing Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk and Napoli.

Van Bronckhorst would lead them to 3rd in the Eredivisie in season 2018-19 but a massive 21 points adrift of eventual winners Ajax.

READ MORE: The Ross Wilson Rangers succession plan now set in motion to replace Steven Gerrard

He’d bow out that summer before spending several months shadowing former Barca teammate Pep Guardiola at Man City.

A brief stint in China with Guangzhou R&F would follow, a spell that was ended prematurely due to the Covid outbreak. He returned home to the Netherlands but is now itching to get back into management.

To date, his managerial stats read 207 games overseen with an average of 1.9 points per game and a 58% win percentage.

If we examine his record at Feyenoord in more detail, of the 184 games he managed, he won 114 of them. That's almost a 62% win rate while averaging 2.37 goals per game.

In terms of how his team’s like to play, it’s clear van Bronckhorst is a big fan of the 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 formations. It’s the systems he predominately deployed during their Eredivisie triumph in 2016-17.

He’s been shown to experiment with his systems both at Feyenoord and his time in China. For example, in their 6-2 demolition of Ajax in January 2019, van Bronckhorst played a 4-1-4-1 with former Rangers target Robin van Persie playing the lone frontman and netting a hat-trick.

His move to China saw him experimenting even more with regards formations, and it wasn’t a surprise to see him play a 5-4-1, 4-3-2-1, 3-4-3 or 3-4-1-2 on occasion.

In an interview given to Dutch media outlet NOS in July when being touted for the Holland job, van Bronkhorst said on the subject of his playing style: “I like the dynamic: 4-3-3 and being able to switch. It’s about winning the match. That can be done in many ways: with attacking football, with a good block…

"Every opponent is different. Preparing a team at a match and the dynamics in a match itself - I think that is the great thing about being a trainer.”

It’s therefore clear van Bronckhorst is someone who is pretty fluid when it comes to organising a side and adapting to the different challenges the opposition pose.

Having played under some of the greatest coaches in the game, the 46-year-old says it has helped him form his own managerial style:

"There’s been Dick Advocaat, Louis van Gaal, Frank Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman and Arsene Wenger. They all had their own ways and different styles, and I’ve tried hard to form my own identity and philosophies as a coach, while never forgetting the positives I took from all of them.

“Being a player is wonderful, but being a manager is totally different. You have different kinds of pressures. It never leaves you and it’s almost impossible to switch off. But the rewards are great, and helping to bring success to Feyenoord was an incredible feeling. I want more in the future."

Having spent a number of months out of the game, van Bronckhorst is itching to get back involved. Just a matter of weeks ago he was linked to the Newcastle United job and has previously said he'd love to manage in the Premier League but in an interview given to Sky Sports last year he said: “I always said if I could coach the teams I played for it would be a big dream.”

Now, there's a come and get me plea if you've ever heard one.

All in all, Rangers need a manager who will be able to hit the ground running and not be fazed by the unique nature of Scottish football. Van Bronckhorst certainly ticks those boxes having been successful as a player.

His appointment would bring a degree of continuity in terms of his philosophy on the game and his possession-based playing style which are similar to that of the previous management team. 

With every appointment, there is a degree of risk attached and van Bronckhorst is no different. His previous and only league title was over four years ago and his spell in China, albeit disrupted by Covid, was underwhelming, to say the least. That being said, he appears to be the popular choice amongst the Rangers supporters and, like Gerrard, is a worldwide name within the game so that should hold a degree of weight when trying to entice players to Ibrox.

A management team of van Bronckhorst and Jan Wouters would be one that you’d imagine fans would be excited by and, on the face of it, a duo that would be able to negotiate the unique challenges that Scottish football offers up.