We get the nagging feeling we’ve seen the best from Todd Cantwell already, and it was last season.
Rangers have simply not had a tune out of the ex-Norwich man since about May, who’s done the same thing at Ibrox he did at Carrow Road – dropped the ball, lost focus, and lost his way.
Back then it was big interest from Aston Villa and a potentially massive move to replace Jack Grealish – it didn’t materialise and he effectively downed tools.
While it’s not interest elsewhere this time, like Glen Kamara Cantwell has demonstrated that once he has any reason to lose his focus, he never regains it, and absurdly this occasion appears to be ego and a bit of Chris Sutton in there.
He got distracted preseason by Sutton’s trolling, had a god-awful summer, then never rebalanced himself when the season got underway.
There just wasn’t the same quality, touch, control, panache and putting his foot on the ball to make things happen that had been abundant last season, and whether it was his own hype or that trolling from the Celtic twit, Cantwell lost his way.
And Philippe Clement took over, saw it, and dropped him. Then put him out wide to teach him a lesson, and despite an initial mild renaissance back in the middle, Cantwell has faded again.
Parkhead was his big chance to regain the old clamour about him, but once again the 25-year-old flubbed his lines, and even ‘dingied’ Clement when he took him off.
Cantwell’s entering dud territory now. He’s becoming a dud now for Rangers the way he ended up for Norwich. He’s full of his own self-importance and hasn’t produced much to speak about this season at all.
4 assists, 2 goals in 24 appearances for a player whose market value has gone from £40M 2 years ago to £6M today.
It sums him up, his crazy decline – which is not to say he’s rubbish, he is not.
When Cantwell is on his game and in the mood he’s stellar. But he apparently lost those urges for Rangers a long time ago the way he did for Norwich, and as things currently look, he’s another Joey Barton. A big-ego’d English Premier League ‘star’ who’s come north, all mouth, and this season there’s been no trousers.
If we got last season’s Cantwell back, great, but that one’s been gone for 8 months and we harbour little hope he will ever properly reappear.
If Clement can’t get form from him, we don’t think anyone can.