Former fan favourite at Ibrox may be in danger of being left behind

Steven Gerrard has plainly made the wings a priority position this summer. Jordan Jones and Jake Hastie are already in, Ryan Kent being gone, and Eros Grezda just failed horribly while Glenn Middleton remains a little green.

But one man who seems to fly under the radar is Daniel Candeias, and he’s a surprisingly divisive player these days.

Despite his workrate, his linkup with Tavernier, his crossing, and his assists, Candeias seems to be a player who has never quite won over the support as a whole, rarely being a true fan favourite and instead being one who many fans respected but maybe didn’t love.

And he’s one that very fans, we believe, would have as a first-team pick if all was pure and holy.

As we say, he has plenty of positive attributes, but so many supporters now accuse him of not having impact in matches, of running aimlessly and working so hard he produces very little end product.

It’s a strange one – how can a guy who never stops running contribute so little?

His crossing is certainly inconsistent, and his decision making doesn’t seem as good now as it once did – but he never stops trying and for that at least he deserves a little slack.

Is he good enough for a title-winning Rangers? Probably not, in truth – he doesn’t often beat men, as a winger, and those crosses are often not quite pinpoint, frequently being a bit lazy, in fact.

But he does give an excellent outlet with James Tavernier, and the two generally work well together to overlap and cover each other.

He’s also technically excellent – probably being the most gifted footballer at the club. His party tricks are a lot of fun and he does seem entirely at ease with the ball, controlling it with real technical panache.

But the question is, does Daniel Candeias’ contribution and positives outweigh his perceived negatives?

That’s one we’d leave to you.