The recent announcement from national coach Vladimir Petković that he was rejecting Rangers’ Cedric Itten from the Swiss picture for this summer’s Euros will be the most bitter pill for the former St Gallen man.
Of course, he knew it was coming, his maiden season in Govan has been a disaster, simple as.
While at times he’s shown some glimpses of what made Rangers pay £3M for his services, equally his embarrassing inability to force his way into the starting XI even during Alfredo Morelos’ indifferent form earlier in the season was a damning indictment of Steven Gerrard’s absolute lack of faith in him.
Every signing made by this manager tends to get a decent amount of airtime – but a Swiss international who was the most-used substitute in the SPL last term really would have expected far more.
In truth, there was a period where the 24-year old did actually have a little burst of form, and we had hope at Ibrox Noise that he was going to play a bigger role.
But it didn’t happen for him – unlike other cases of slow starters, like Barisic and maybe Aribo, Itten wasn’t being given any opportunities anyway.
These others would still play, and eventually settle – but Itten wasn’t afforded Stevie’s trust to be given that kind of chance.
No, the Itten signing hasn’t worked, and he clearly doesn’t fit into Stevie’s system at all.
But more importantly for the forward, it’s now cost him a place at the Euros, and that’ll be heartbreaking.
In truth, he probably wishes he’d stayed in Switzerland, because he played plenty, scored a lot and was becoming a regular for his country.
Word is he’s going back there on loan, but it comes a bit late to fix his place at the Euros.
Personally, I wouldn’t say it’s been a disaster signing for us, potentially for the lad though as you say what with missing out on a major Championship. He hasn’t broke into the main 11. However, he still came up with some very important goals at vital times and like everyone in the squad is deserving of their medal for their part, albeit small, in getting us over the line. He was always arriving as 4th choice with a plan to improve him to eventually take over when we lose either, or both, JD and Buff. I trust that this management team will have Ced the Ted ready when called upon.
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