Rangers probably need to stay away from the South American market

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Rangers probably need to stay away from the South American market
Cifu during happier times when he signed (Credit Rangers FC)

Unfortunately, Rangers really REALLY need to stay away from the South American market after the last three signings all failed, in different ways.

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First it was £1.5M Jose Cifuentes of Ecuador, who clearly didn’t settle, wasn’t happy in Scotland, and failed rather badly, before heading back off to his home continent and settling in Brazil with Cruzeiro.

Then there was the £6M investment in Brazil’s Danilo which may have yielded 11 goals and assists in 21 (a good number in truth for sub-1000 minutes) but lost Rangers his services after a second injury this campaign sidelined him for the season.

And lastly, as great as he’d been, the injury to new recruit Oscar Cortes, regardless of our view of his selection on that Rugby Park pitch, has robbed us of the Colombian till pretty much the end of the season.

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The common denominator here is that the South American market is a very, very risky one.

Rangers’ one ‘big’ recent success from there, Alfredo Morelos, did nab 124 goals and 58 assists in just 269 appearances, but his time in Govan was not without incident to say the least and the circus which surrounded him and the discipline issues really weren’t great.

And Rangers’ distant history with that market is chequered at best – Brazil’s superstar Emilson Cribari was an absolute horror of a signing, even back then, while countryman Emerson was average at best.

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But these days is what matters, and of Morelos, Cifuentes, Danilo and Cortes, it’s hard to say Rangers are getting overall value for money when we look at what these guys cost. Especially in wages.

We’d suggest very much keeping away from the Americas in general – Rangers’ luck from the MLS isn’t a lot better, Mo Edu and Claudio Reyna two of the few Americans to do well. Boca? Questionable. Polster? Zelalem? Cifu himself technically came from MLS as well. And Tillman is basically German before you ask. Hyndman? Bedoya? Beasley? He was ok.

And no one will forget James Sands in a hurry…

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No, as much as there’s a tonne of talent in South America (look at how the Portuguese sides soak it up) it doesn’t seem to entirely suit Rangers more often than not.

And we’re not a bottomless pit of money to waste on these players.

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