Ex-EPL defender & Scotland cap on a free – could Pedro make a move?

26
Ex-EPL defender & Scotland cap on a free – could Pedro make a move?

With major surgery required this summer, Rangers will be looking to strengthen in pretty much every department. Today manager Pedro Caixinha confirmed he has presented the board with a list of the players he believes will help to do that, but among the positions Rangers need solidifying is right back.

James Tavernier, evidently, is not good enough for the SPL, and while giving the occasional performance (he was one of Rangers’ best (or least bad) in the cup semi) has not delivered consistently this season. Lee Hodson will probably never get in favour under any manager at Ibrox, with the impressive full back a permanent bench option for three bosses in a row and likely to move on this summer.

Which leaves definite scope for some quality to come in; and a certain ex-Rangers right back is a Bosman this summer with Alan Hutton out of contract come the end of the season at Villa Park.

While no spring chicken (he is 32) there has not been as good a RB at Ibrox outwith Hutton since the days of Gary Stevens, and even towards the tail end of his career he would be a significant upgrade on both Tavernier and Hodson.

Rangers fans were heartbroken when he left for Tottenham in January 2008 for a very handsome fee (he remains one of Rangers’ most expensive sales of all time at £8.5M despite the sum being undisclosed) and it has to be said the move did not really work out for the ex Scotland international and the flying full back has had a bit of a nomadic career ever since, ending up, among other places, in Mallorca.

As a free transfer Hutton would be only too aware of Rangers’ financial restrictions and the former Sunderland man might just welcome the chance to come home to Ibrox and end his career where it all started.

It is easy to forget just how good Hutton was at his peak – Paul Le Guen started to get more out of him before Walter Smith produced the best season of his career in the year 2007 – this guy was waltzing through Champions League defences like a hot knife through butter, and was defending impeccably too.

He is not that player any more. It was a decade ago. But he is still a significant improvement over anything Rangers have and would give the defence experience and quality.

Still, depends on the wages I suppose…

No posts to display

26 COMMENTS

    • Because he is not at the level we need. Wallace is far better and tav offers more going forward (although his defending is awful).

  1. I'm sorry no disrespect a great player for Rangers was Hutton but I think Whitts would be the better option…

  2. A good player in his day, but his marauding runs are over…and his defending was never as good as his attacking. 50/50.
    Would be nice to see us take more of a chance on young Scottish players. 2008 > 2012, if we'd gone shopping to Livingston, Queen’s Park, Hamilton, Falkirk and Dundee Utd, we could have picked up these 5 for peanuts:
    Robert Snodgrass
    Andy Robertson
    James McCarthy
    James McArthur
    Scott Arfield
    Ryan Gauld
    Today (if including Gauld’s 50 million-quid buyout clause) they'd cost you 90-100 million. What a core they would have made to our team today. We have the talent in the country, but our scouts never seem to notice it.

    • Ignore the fact most of them are Celtic fans:

      McCarthy 1.2m
      McArthur 0.5m
      Robertson 2.5m
      Gauld 3.0m

      £7.5m back in 2008-2012…

    • Alan Hutton earns, what, £30k PW. That would make him the highest earner in Scottish football.

      Shouldn't rangers try and sign some young talent at affordable prices?

    • Liam, yes that's the price they were sold for. But these guys were well-known in Scotland for 2, 3 and (in McArthur's case 5) years before the big guns came in for them. If we'd gone in for them when they first came on the radar, say after 1 season of first-team football, we'd have got them for a fraction of that 7.5m.

  3. Aye you're not wrong there Jorg… Scouts I don't think Rangers have any if so they're rank rotten..

    • Absolutely, Bilco. One current example is Stevie Mallan. The boy has just turned 21 and already has nearly 100 first-team appearances under his belt with St. Mirren. He's a match-winner, knows the game and scored Goals of the Season. We used to take a punt on these players; Iain Ferguson played fewer first-team games at Saints/Clyde before we signed him and he turned out alright. I'm not saying Mallan is Dele Alli, but for years EPL teams decided against signing DA thinking he might not make the Prem grade. How much they must be regretting that.

    • Fergie was a master stroke of a signing as you say. He had a winning mentality and a good dig in his locker too. He cut his teeth at a lesser Club ( no disrespect ) so yes there is diamonds to be found in the Scottish game. Mallan has been getting rave reviews with what he's done at the St Mirren defo worth a cheeky punt

  4. At the place we're at we need players who we know can handle playing for rangers and for me if u get offered Hutton,Whittaker,Naismith and lafferty for free n they want to cum bck n they're willing to take a massive pay cut to wear the royal blue jersey again its a no brainer that's you got a squad of player with club at heart experience playing at the highest level international footballers. Wilson,Wallace,Whittaker,Hutton,Naismith, Lafferty and Miller then u fill the gaps around them with younger n energetic players for me it's a chance to have a solid base for the squad n it's never been more apparent we need a GERS base than watch the weak n heartless dross we watch every other week. We must stop 10 in a row!!

  5. Bruno Alves is reported to be on Peds list of 12 Ibrox Noise. At 35 he has played 33 games Cagliari in Italy this season.. Can be rash in the challenge at times but so was big Amo – Alves has got a cracking right peg something we have missed since Der Hammer… I honestly think Bates would improve ten fold playing alongside a player of his experience – could be another Davie Weir

    • Too old yet Hill is older and slower.. How many yrs are we going to get out of Hill? Not knocking Hill he's done well but he's had no International or European experience has he…

  6. I feel we need to start thinking outside the box here folks! May I remind you of European football begins soon. We do not need old school has beens coming back as they will not work.

    We need seasoned, younger, hungry, athletic, skillful and grafters with hearts for a fight on the pitch,,,, do any of the above mentioned come into that category? No, they dont!!,, We need a clear out and players in that can challenge shellic next season and have an impact in Europe. Therefore, Pedro has to be clever in the market and bring in the appropriate players that will challenge for the league,, if he doesn't,, or if we start bringing in old Rangers players in,,,then mark my words, we will be challenging for 3rd next season!! and that's a fact!

    • Agree that we must show greater ambition and imagination in the players we recruit.

      This is a critical summer for recruitment. Simply can't make mistakes like last summer going for numbers instead of quality.

    • What about Liam Landsley he's having an absolute belter of a season with the Jags and still only 21… Defo one for the future and dare I say it be affordable for the Gers

  7. Out of interest did anyone see Warburton laughably hypocritical comments at his Forrest press conference.

    He claimed you don't ask players to commit to club whilst planning your own escape. Sloppy journalism apparently!

    Same old sound bites.

    Even if Pedro has struggled so far, so glad Warburton is gone.

    • Yes, saw it Chef. Apparently later he was asked, "Are you talking shit again, Warbs?" and he replied, "It's abaht the squad. The players have to relish that tradition and history, and embrace it. It's a heavy weight to behr sometimes, but you have to enjoy that responsibility."

  8. So we need young energetic fearless players with heart n fight, is that not wat warbs went for?? Experienced players with club at at heart and European experience at that so to me wen we watch wat we do week in and out that young inexperience scared player that doesn't kno wat it really is to play for 1 of the biggest club in the world not for me get experienced bluenoses in n bring in youngish players round about them but they have to b good enuf tho. Sum fans just don't understand Thers no time for another experiment the clock is ticking we must stop 10 in a row!!!

Comments are closed.