Malmö FF Sporting Director Daniel Andersson has, not unlike NYCFC manager Nick Cushing, put a cryptic hint out that a player is returning to his club, in this case in the form of Rangers defender Filip Helander.

Cushing failed deny James Sands was coming back to the MLS some weeks ago, and we see another club chief making the same overtures about a current Ranger, in this case the Swede.

Andersson said:

This is about as blatant as ‘we’ll bring him home’ as it gets, and there’s no denying Helander would jump at the chance to go back to his native Sweden.

Malmö FF remain a top European club even if their current plight is not a particularly strong one, lying fifth-bottom of the Allsvenskan, and a filly-fit Helander is a top defender who could strengthen many teams on the continent, but as a free transfer while he might be theoretically lucrative, he would still be a risk for any club given that injury record.

But Malmö FF is where it really began for Helander, it’s his hometown team and it’s where he comes from. His European adventure has been a decent one and he’s done a lot, but he probably hasn’t realised his career potential, especially during his disastrous Rangers spell.

A good defender on his day, very good, but absolutely torrentially injured and only managed 72 appearances in four years for Rangers, which might not be quite 18 appearances Jordan Rossiter level, but it’s still a poor return for the £3M investment in him.

Would he have even left Bologna under the late Siniša Mihajlović had the Serbian favoured him? Probably not, but he made the move to Rangers where the injuries began.

And from thereon in, he couldn’t stay fit which is a crying shame. The deal expires in a few months like the rest of them and there’s zero chance Helander is getting a new one – and we doubt he’d even want one by this point in truth.

We wish him the best no matter what happens to him now.