With the permanent exit of Wales’ Rabbi Matondo ready to be announced, his departure will be the final curtain on that absolute horror of a transfer window in 2022.
That summer might have given Rangers Antonio Colak and the later-brilliant Malik Tillman, but the utter rubbish Ross Wilson inflicted on the club that year was dire.
Gio
Giovanni van Bronckhorst, following Sevilla, was furnished with Matondo, Ben Davies, Ridvan Yilmaz and Tom Lawrence, not to mention that January’s signing of John Souttar, who wouldn’t be available for another 18 months.
It was a shocker of a summer, and no wonder Rangers had zero chance in the Champions League that season.
That summer set Rangers back around £13M. That’s pennies for the Dutchman to take the Champions League on with. And Matondo is the final exit on that dire window.
Matondo
As for Matondo himself, not the best, was he?
He was a random Wilson acquisition from Schalke, who looked decent on paper and all that, but will be remembered for one admittedly worldie of a strike v Celtic and absolutely nothing else.
He did, somehow, manage 70 appearances for Rangers (25 starts) and his stats were horribly mediocre. 19 goals and assists. Not absolutely disgusting but painfully unmemorable.
The one thing Rabbi will be remembered for is how nice a guy he is. If there is one guy at Ibrox who is probably more popular and funny than anyone else it’s Matondo. He’s such a decent and funny bloke, but unfortunately, a decent gag doesn’t score a goal. Or assist.
The number of players naming him as their best bud or funniest team mate is the guy he is. But in terms of his being a player, he was a disaster.
Wales
On paper we had a Wales international who was coming from the Bundesliga. On the pitch we had a guy who rarely looked around, made terrible decisions. And had more pace than he knew what to do with.
His exit is, sadly, mutual consent. Rangers are happy to get his ridiculous £30,000 salary off the payroll. And the club will pay off some of his contract to free him up for his new career in Brann.
There will be no transfer fee here, Rangers losing the £3M we wasted on him and the £4M his wages amounted to. Add the payoff and he’s cost about £7.5M. Not quite as horrendous as Danilo but not miles off.
Matondo for his part gets a new start and a nice little cheque for a few hundred thousand. Rangers get a wage space back for the summer. But we lose a few hundred k and all of the transfer fee.
Rabbi Matondo did quite well out of this club, and he can thank his agent and Ross Wilson for that.