Dutch-born Raphael Borges Rodrigues, said to be a target for Rangers, has seen his agent speaking to the press admitting the winger is moving to Europe from MacArthur FC in Australia’s A-League.
Speaking to Australia’s FTBL outlet, Ben Khalfallah said:
“There is definitely interest from clubs in England, Scotland and also in mainland Europe. But he’s still contracted with Macarthur for next season and has a lot of respect for them. The way things stand, I imagine he’s a player who will be moving to Europe in the near future. I really like him and believe he’s one of the best young talents in Australia, especially in terms of skill and mentality.”
The Scotland reference naturally infers Rangers, with Ibrox interest claimed recently, even if Ibrox Noise hinted at a touch of agent promotion from Mr Khalfallah upon his client.
He went on:
“He has big potential and what also makes a big difference is his work ethic and attitude off the field. He’s a top kid who has a great desire to succeed – and he quickly takes on board and absorbs information to help improve his game. He wants to go to Europe and succeed – he doesn’t just want to go for the sake of making a move. He’s not only a great kid, he’s going to have a good career.”
As we said in our last appraisal of this story, Rodrigues’ career thus far is nothing sensational, he’s a 20-year-old lad with a potentially bright future but his agent bigs him up as beyond what he’s achieved with MacArthur, which isn’t a great deal.
If this was a lad with 15 in 30 or something we’d buy into the idea a speck more but it’s 8 in 32, which is nothing amazing at that level or at his age.
Look, for example, at the difference with Oscar Cortes – same age, 6 in 10 for Lens in Ligue 1 and only ended up at Rangers because Lens didn’t play a formation which suits him. His CV was without doubt at the same age – a marquee talent.
This lad is a lot less impressive and doesn’t scream at us as being anything better than Silva or Wright.
His stats are comparable with those two.
But his agent has hinted that we’re interested.
We kinda hope not.