Following on from our analysis of the players gone, Rangers certainly should never have got rid of the likes of Cedric Itten, Filip Helander, Antonio Colak, Fabio Cardoso, Daniel Candeias, Scott Arfield, Nikola Katic, Nathan Patterson, Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo and Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent should be added to that list.
Cedric Itten was good and, alright he wasn’t banging them in but still decent return and played half decent under Steven Gerrard.
Colak was scoring almost every week or every other week in the league for Rangers but was often injured despite his European exploits in the qualifiers so maybe there was some logic behind MB’s call there?
Morelos was similar to Colak although he was the other way round was hardly scoring in the league but was instrumental in Rangers’ run in the group stages of the Europa League that year and I don’t know what happened.
Was it Ian Beale or Morelos himself that caused the contract impasse by getting his head turned and thinking the grass was greener on the other side in that he was getting a move to Sevilla or another big club but it fell through in the end? I don’t know, but whatever was the reason it was a grave mistake and error not getting Morelos to sign a new contract cause how we badly miss and need him right now.
Same goes for the likes of Kent, Arfield and McGregor although the latter was in his forties and getting on a bit so can hardly expect him to keep going at the top level and be Rangers’ No.1 GK so I understand why he wasn’t offered a new contract. Jack Butland has replaced him pretty well.
I can also understand why Kent maybe wasn’t offered a new contract because he wasn’t the same player and didn’t really turn up for Rangers in his last season but like Morelos we could be doing with his involvement and creativity in order to help beat and break down and unlock teams and defences that sit in and defend against Rangers.
Kent was painfully underrated and undervalued by Rangers fans, who appeared very happy to see the back of him. Ironically he isn’t doing too well at Fenerbahce though…
The big one though was Scott Arfield, we miss his presence and industriousness and attacking impetus in midfield every time he played especially the times he came off the bench when Rangers were struggling – he gave Rangers that drive to get forward and attack that was definitely the biggest mistake of them all not signing Arfield to a new contract.
As for Calvin Bassey, Joe Aribo and Nathan Patterson they’re a big miss also cause they’re miles better than what we have now but the money we got for them was just too good to turn down especially £19m for Calvin Bassey to Ajax although it was a bit poor Rangers didn’t get any further sell on money after he was sold by Ajax to Fulham.
Niko Katic and Helander were two good defenders again certainly better than what we have now but they were always too injury prone so I can understand why they were let go and Fashion Sakala was another one that should never have been let go as well as Ianis Hagi and Alex Lowry but the good thing is they’re only on loan so hopefully Clement recalls them back from loan in January or they come back next summer.
The point is it’s maybe a bit of a mixed batch in there, but when we look at Cyriel Dessers compared with Antonio Colak, it is quite depressing looking at the mismanagement of so many of the player exits.