Inspired by a long-term member of Ibrox Noise, we want to have a slightly retrospective at former Rangers attackers Joe Aribo and Malik Tillman, and specifically what they have in common.
Ultimately they share the reality that they are no longer Rangers players, but that’s obvious.
What’s the bigger thing they share?
That regardless of how much talent they looked like they had at Rangers, when tested at higher levels they both fell well short of the quality we need.
Tillman’s big test was against Celtic, indeed against any ‘better’ SPL side, and of course in the Champions League. He did not bad in the qualifiers, a goal v Union Saint and a massive assist v PSV which booked our place in the competition proper, but these are a LONG time ago.
Over the course of the rest of the season, Malik Tillman was an absolute fail and would have been a horrible use of £5.2M. Look at what £2M got us with Todd Cantwell, a vastly superior player with a much stronger CV. He even stepped up v Celtic in the 3-0 when Tillman had had many chances previously to shine, and couldn’t take them.
Tillman is one of many small-time players in our shirt to be unable to shine against top teams like they can against Dundee United.
And this brings us onto Aribo. He didn’t fail for Rangers, far from it, but he maybe wasn’t a spectacular success – but he did do well enough to persuade Southampton to shell out a theoretical £10M on him. And again, he didn’t step up and sadly this time he did fail, badly.
In truth? Both fall short. While it’s early days with Cantwell, the class difference from the ex-Norwich man compared with both the other guys in this piece is night and day. Same position as both, but a massively better player.
Of course he hasn’t won anything, and we’re intrigued to see how he does in Europe next season, but domestically he’s absolutely shone, including v Celtic.
But this is less about him, and more about Aribo and Tillman just not cutting it.
The quality of Cantwell only highlights how short they both fell.