Rangers have this morning been linked with some Angolan you’ve never heard of called Benedito Mambuene Mukendi who plies his trade with a team you’ve never heard of called CD Trofense for the princely sum of £350,000.
The 20-year old midfielder, nicknamed ‘Beni’ (wonder why) is an uncapped at senior level and a former Angolan U17, and we have to say as far as underwhelming Rangers links go, this one tops the lot.
This guy isn’t even in the Primeira Liga of Portugal, he’s in the second division of their country’s league tier, and he’s been there for two years.
Of course, it’s the scouting team’s job to find and unearth hidden gems, but a second-division Portuguese-based Angolan who last played for his country at U17 level and has a market value of roughly a modest six-figures doesn’t scream to us of someone who can improve midfield.
That said, if this is someone Michael Beale genuinely wants, we’ll run with it and just cross our fingers that he’s up to the task. His career isn’t great, born in Luanda Angola, somehow he ended up into the Portuguese youth system of Trofense after scouts watched him play for Atlético Petróleos Luanda U19s.
And two years on, that’s where he’s stayed, in Portugal that is – having made it to the senior side of his second division team, he’s aspired to little else in around three years.
Good enough for Rangers? We’d doubt he’s good enough for Raith Rovers at this point, not one we carry any water for at this point. We’re loving the ‘Angolan ace’ headlines the Scottish press are conjuring about the lad, despite knowing less about him than we do.
But hey, we’re just morons with typewriters, and our scouts are the ones to have picked up Zukowski, Diallo, Ramsey and Rabbi Matondo so in them we trust, right?
We jest, if we’re genuinely in for him, hopefully he’s better than his CV makes him look – he’s not even an international, even Alloa’s Frederic Mendy (34) played for his country more than once and even got a call up for the Africa Cup of Nations.
This Beni chap doesn’t excite us a lot.