RYAN HARDIE is convinced that being able to pick the brains of Jermain Defoe in Tenerife can help him flourish at Livingston and prove Steven Gerrard right to hand him a new deal at Rangers.
The 21-year-old yesterday penned a one-year contract extension at Ibrox and was immediately farmed out for a further loan spell at Livi.
The Scotland under-21 cap was recalled by the Light Blues earlier this month after netting five times in six games for the Lions before the winter break following his return from an ankle injury.
It was a thrilling experience in the Canaries for the youngster, who got to work under Gerrard for the first time and play with new signing Defoe during the warm-weather training camp.
And, ahead of tomorrow’s Scottish Cup encounter with Hearts, he is now determined to make the most of another stay at Almondvale before heading back to Rangers ready for a first-team fight in the summer.
He said: “I’ve watched Jermain Defoe scoring goals in the Premier League for years and now he’s at Rangers.
“He met us out in Tenerife and trained the first day, and it was really good playing alongside him.
“I managed to get on the same team as him a few times and there’s a lot of things I’ll learn from him.
“I was picking his brains. One thing I need to do as a young lad is look up to the older boys and look for advice.
“I’m always learning from them and watching them and seeing what they do and what their habits are in training.
“The manager said in our chats that I just needed to go and continue what I’m doing.
“He’s been very impressed watching from afar, and I’m sure he’ll continue to do that.
“If I score more goals it’s going to put good things in his head and hopefully push myself closer to that building in the summer.
“It’s great when Steven Gerrard says he’s been impressed with what I’ve done.
“When he came in last summer it was a massive name coming to the club.
“I was as excited as anyone to train under him but unfortunately I was out injured and missed the full pre-season and all the way to December.
“So, I’m glad I got that chance in Tenerife and I’m looking forward to doing it again in the summer.
“It was more about showing him what I was about and proving that I was worth a new deal.
“We had a chat over there and he said it would be selfish of him to take me back to Rangers. We agreed it was best for me to go back out on loan and get another few months playing.
“He was very good and very helpful with me, so I’m thankful for that.”
Hardie netted five times in the space of five games in December, including a double in the stunning 5-0 hammering of Hearts.
The Jambos go into tomorrow’s cup rematch intent on making amends for that embarrassment, but Hardie is convinced the confidence of that shock win can help the Lions at Tynecastle.
He added: “They’ll be up for it and we’ll need to be equally as up for it.
“They’ll use that 5-0 game to their advantage but we’ve got it in our locker that we’ve done that and we can do it again if we go all guns blazing.
“We know if we start the game right we can always take the game to them, instead of sitting back in and defending.”
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