The end of Niko at Rangers as Croat finally moves on

So Nikola Katic finally exits Rangers for around £1M, and we at Ibrox Noise must admit the likable Croatian was treated horrendously by this club in every sense, from the moment he arrived to the moment he left.

Some players are just not given the time of day, or respect, that they give the club, and Katic is 100% a victim of ego, timing, and misfortune.

A lot of fans are currently defending his exit by saying he’s just not very good – well, this is a matter of opinion but a top flight Swiss team (Zurich) just signed him and a Champions League team (Haifa) missed out on him, so if he’s as bad as these fans think, we’re very surprised by the interest in him.

There’s also the note where another top team, Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, trialled him for the season, and were so impressed they wanted to keep him, but were unable to fund the signing so had to let him go back to Ibrox.

In short, the only one who actually DIDN’T rate him was Steven Gerrard, who is currently being tonked in the PL despite having spent £50M and who won one trophy in 9 at Ibrox.

Many then point to Giovanni as another who didn’t rate him. Sorry guys, doesn’t work like that. Niko was Gerrard’s player, and he was away on loan. Gio, like any new manager, rarely to never will take interest in players the ex-boss rejected. He brought Itten back, yes, but as an emergency because we were going to lose Alfredo to international duty at the end of January. In January, Rangers weren’t going through a defensive crisis by comparison. So Gio didn’t rate or not rate Niko, he just had nothing to do with him.

He also needs lefties – Goldson is never ever injured, so his position is pretty much solid. He has a deputy (Souttar). Katic wasn’t needed there under Gio’s Rangers. It’s a lefty he wants, and that’s why Sands plays next to Goldson and he added Ben Davies.

Katic’s form in 2019 before Helander took his place was superb – fans with short memories clearly don’t remember Gerrard admitting he couldn’t select the Swede because Katic was so good, but he went ahead and dropped him anyway. That was effectively the end of Katic at Rangers.

And since then he’s been treated terribly.

Whatever you think of his ability, and argument will rage about it, he hasn’t been shown respect at Ibrox. Under Gerrard, he wasn’t part of his pals, and he was treated as such. Gio gets a free pass because of how he plays football. He wouldn’t have signed Katic.

Long and short of it – three quality clubs including a CL team tried to sign Katic, and a top-flight Swiss team were the ones to do it.

We wish him luck in his new career and we’ll keeps tabs on the boy.

He’s one of us for sure.