Initially, we did think it was an April Fool, but there is no question that the Barry Fry Emmanuel Fernandez media machine is on full throttle. The Peterborough Telegraph has recently reported that the defender who was formerly a Portsmouth stopper, of course, is now a £35M defender. Of course, we do suspect once again there is a little bit of Barry Fry’s media tinkering going on here, given the fact that he made a claim about Rangers selling the boy for £40M. There is, of course, ulterior motive for this that we will get to in a second, but in reality, is Fernandez really worth £35M? Not a chance in hell.
**The sell on agenda**
The boy has been an average defender who has scored some goals and manages to get some decent aerial clearances. The Fry media machine really has ramped up massively. It is the first time that Rangers have actually signed a player from a Barry Fry chaired team, and we are seeing the impact the boy has in the media when it comes to trying to get a sell on. Yes, of course, because that is the big key. Fry has a big sell on on Fernandez and is keen to make a big wad of cash back in the event of Rangers selling him, which the club will certainly surely do.
**Not elite despite the hype**
The comedy here, of course, is that Fernandez has not been that outstanding. We think of top Rangers defenders of the past, the Goughs, the Weirs, certainly the Cuellars, the Bougherras and even more recently the Basseys. Fernandez does not come close to any of these. He has been reasonable and above expectation of what we would have expected from a former £300,000 valued Peterborough defender who was only a bit part player down south. But nevertheless, the media machine, as we have said, pushed forward by Fry, has ensured that there has been a collective psychology in the press pushing the boy as being a £35M or £40M defender, which is a ridiculous sum.
**Rangers hold the power now**
We do, of course, hope that we do indeed sell him for £40M. That would be an absolutely staggering return. But then, if Celtic can sell a fairly above average defender like Ajer for the price range of around £25M to Brentford, then anything is indeed possible. The fact is that Rangers have money now. Financially, Rangers are no longer in any kind of trouble and have funding going in.
There is big cash now going into the club where it was not before. Success hopefully will follow in due course, but for now, we do not need to fire sell any assets. We do not need to lose them for peanuts. And we do not need to sell them below their market value. We can do the Calvin Bassey type sales on a much more regular basis now. Fernandez himself remains a protected asset, and his stock continues to rise.
**Final reality**
Consequently, it would be the same for Fernandez. We do not need to sell him for anything that is not what we want. Whether that number is or be anything like the £35M or £40M mark is another story. He is never worth anything like that! But if we got it, well, we are certainly not going to be complaining. The Barry Fry Emmanuel Fernandez machine is in full throttle.