Rangers’ summer transfer window is now over, and it’s time for Ibrox Noise to review the incomings and outgoings of the past 3 months.
Good? Bad? Indifferent? Let’s find out.
Outgoings:
Jordan Jones, George Edmundson, Greg Stewart, Bongani Zungu, Jamie Barjonas, Glenn Middleton, Jake Hastie, Niko Katic, and Cedric Itten.
Some of these were permanents, some were loans.
None of them had a future under Steven Gerrard, and some were outright cast out. Whether fans are happy with the exits, it’s a lot of players off the bill. Sadly, not including Brandon Barker yet…
Incomings:
John Lundstram, Fashion Sakala, Nnambi Ofoborh and Juninho Bacuna.
Lundstram:
Hasn’t started too well, and isn’t a favourite among fans despite the CV he arrived with. Has a lot of work to do to win over the support but all in good time. 4/10
Sakala:
Pretty much the same as Lundstram – not helped in his case by injury and quarantine. He’s had a stuttered start to life at Ibrox, and it’s ironic because his debut v Madrid hinted at so much more. 5/10
Ofoborh:
Poor sod has a heart issue and seems nowhere near the first team. May have been a mistake of an addition but time will tell. N/A
Juninho Bacuna:
Wasn’t exactly signed from a top side, but his CV is good. He is a creative defensive midfielder, a playmaker, with good vision and has a fine record from his time in Holland. Another one we cannot make an opinion on till he has at least made a few appearances. N/A
Overall:
The best thing about this window was who we actually kept (more on that later) but we have to say the incomings work in the window wasn’t good enough. We stated clearly in Spring we had to enhance this squad with signings that would progress us into the CL, and would keep us ticking over for 56. We knew this season would be tougher than last, and regulars will know we preached that repeatedly.
Unfortunately the summer work just wasn’t good enough. And that CL exit is some early evidence.
We got rid of some decent players fans like (Jones, Itten, Katic) and we didn’t bring in a single defender, not to mention sticking with one fans really don’t rate in Jack Simpson.
The squad is presently barely stronger than it was last season, which is not how you progress.
That said, there is of course ‘time’ for these new players to prove themselves worthy acquisitions, but then is there really? Do you get time at Rangers? No, you don’t. Fans will argue about Joe Aribo and Borna Barisic ‘getting’ time but they didn’t – they were criticised for a long time, especially Barisic, and it wasn’t till that goal in Paisley that the Croat earned some slack.
So expect Lundstram and Sakala in particular to divide fans between the ‘give him time’ and ‘ffs he stinks’ brigades.
But in terms of overall, it’s not been a great window, and it’s not been what we hoped for.
All we can do now is trust the squad and the manager to give us everything and deliver 56.
Managers live or die with who they let go and who they bring in. There is no doubt that the budget this year has been very tight to non existent and that’s evident in or lack of real business. Lundstram will come good he’s got something about him, Sakala looks weak . Looking forward to Baccuna very much .The Dutch League and the EFL Championship level is good standard. He looks big unit too . Katic may be a mistake. Pity we didn’t move at least one of our bigger assets , SG will have to win 56 with what we’ve got unless we get some big investment .
I think it’s too early to say we are barely any better than last season. I think Wright is an automatic improvement. Lundstram as you say has a good CV and could easily spring into life. Sakala showed great promise against Real and could still turn out to be prolific once he settles. And maybe we’ve got a diamond in the unfortunate Ofoborh and who’s to say Allegra and McCann can’t burst onto the first team scene. Give these lads a chance. I’m more worried about the players we already have getting back to their levels from last season.
I believe Lundstram when he gets up to speed will probably become dependable with his experience in the same way Davis has. Wright is a top player for me and will only get better. Sakala needs a run of games and if the club’s backroom staff can add some beef to his frame he will be a powerful asset. Bacuna is one that I’m curious about as he gets praise from some quarters and not so much from others. The B-team additions give me a lot of hope for future squads. Ofoborh looks the part and I’m hopeful his problems can be sorted regardless of whether he gets playing again. Glad we have held on to our expected transfer targets but as far as the deadline day news went I think it was probably the right move for Itten as he doesn’t seem to fit in Gerrard’s plans. Katic on the other hand is a player I think we should be keeping to put pressure on our current crop of CB’s and put Simpson on a season’s loan instead. I like Simpson and the young lad hopefully has a bright future with us competing the likes of Katic, King and Mayo but without trying to sound childish, Katic was here first and without his injury would probably be keeping someone out of the side. Hellander I expect will depart us on one of the next two windows so Katic should be in the frame.
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