Sadiq Umar reveals that it was Roma who decided to end his loan deal with Glasgow Rangers

NIGERIAN striker Sadiq Umar has dispelled rumours that Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers terminated him contract with them last week pointing out that he left the side after is parent club Roma decided to recall him and send him elsewhere.

Umar, 21, joined Rangers from Italian side Roma in the summer but has returned to his parent club after a bitterly disappointing loan spell in Glasgow. Despite a bright start, Rangers head coach Steven Gerrard made Umar his fourth choice striker, which resulted in him missing out on matchday squads.

As Umar fell down the rankings, Rangers were said to be willing to terminate his loan deal in January because the club is eyeing a move for Liverpool's Nigerian-born forward Dominic Solanke as his replacement. However, last week, the relationship came to an end with Umar returning to Roma, who are now looking to loan him to Italian Serie B side Perugia come January.

Umar said: "It was a decision between myself and Roma and we informed Rangers about it and they accepted. So simply put, collectively myself and Roma decided to end the loan and not Rangers, they never asked me to leave, not at any time.

"Gerrard is a good coach no doubt and my relationship with him is very normal. We didn’t talk that much on where I need to improve in my game during my time there, which is different from the other coaches I’ve worked with as I hear about myself more from his interviews than him speaking with me directly."

He added that the move to Rangers was a very steep learning curve for him and it did have an effect on his confidence. According to Umar, the pressure to do well affected him negatively and it was unfortunate that he could not show the fans what he was about.