Former Rangers midfielder Jose Cifuentes has hinted that he cost Rangers £2M by rejecting former Sunderland manager Michael Beale, Rizespor in Turkey and two Russian sides, most of who were ready to pay the full amount.

Speaking in Brazil about his ultimate switch on loan to Cruzeiro, the Ecuador midfielder confirmed he had five offers, but didn’t want to take any loan offers (that’s what was from Rizespor) because of his family and couldn’t go to Russia because they can’t pay.

But instead picked between Sunderland’s permanent or Cruzeiro on loan and chose the latter, for his family.

He said:

“There were two Russian teams who wanted to sign me. However, with the war that is going on there, it was something that could not be carried out because European teams are not allowed to receive money from Russian clubs at the moment I think. There was a team from the English Championship interested and a club from Turkey too.”

Hard to complain about much of that but he goes on:

“But it would have been a loan for five months which meant uprooting from family again after they had already had to adapt to Scotland, which would have been a problem. So I had to make the best decision for them and that’s why I’m here in Brazil. I made my debut for Cruzeiro last week and it was sunny. I didn’t experience the sun for the six months I was with Rangers. It was always cold. But my fitness is good and I think I will adapt here easily.”

Turkey was the loan, Russia was payment, and Sunderland was £2M payment, and he decided to go back to South America basically to make it easy for his family to see him.

This only shows football probably isn’t for Jose Cifuentes, because suck it up mate – the nomadic ‘away from your family’ life is part of the sport, it’s one of the costs of the riches and doing what you love as your career. And it’s cost Rangers £2M guaranteed. We only hope the purchase option in his Cruzeiro deal is the same number.

The moment you prioritise your family over your career in football is why you end up in a dead-end league in Brazil and not a European one.

Football is littered with stories of the painful sacrifice players have made to ‘walk away’ from their families to pursue their dreams, and their families have supported them all the way. It’s a sad part of it, but it’s part of it.

He also seems to think wherever he plays should be sunny, and whined at the bad weather in Scotland.

Cifu clearly just wanted to be back home near his family in South America, and that’s fair enough. But any chance he had of making it as a serious player in European leagues is gone now if he couldn’t handle being away from them.

He will never be back at Rangers.