If Manny Fernandez’s birthday today, as well as comments in the media, have had one thing to suggest, it is that there is probably less interest in the Rangers defender than was believed. Furthermore, the notions that Barry Fry had of making some kind of gigantic fortune this summer for his former charge have probably faded as well. Emmanuel Fernandez makes it clear on this.
Fernandez appears settled at Rangers
Fernandez appears to be entirely committed to Rangers. He does not show any signs of anyone who is interested in leaving at all. He is enjoying his time in Govan, having had a bit of a breakout career season.
Of course, Ibrox Noise has looked at the numbers, and he was pretty average last season. Despite those bizarre four goals from four different set piece deliveries that put him into the limelight. Fernandez was lacking at the back overall on a considerable level.
The numbers tell a different story
We crunched the numbers at Ibrox Noise and discovered that he did not come close to even the top three in any single defensive attribute in the SPL. Indeed, not a single one of them did he even excel in. The highest he was came in around fourth.
Consequently, when we look at the numbers that Cammy Devlin posted at Hearts, he topped the Scottish Premiership stats table on at least two or three different attributes. That shows just how much he shone, and Fernandez did not.
Goals boosted the ratings
However, curiously, because of those goals, like James Tavernier, Fernandez was very high on the ratings charts. The ratings charts are stats based and use both defence and attack, alongside any contributable football trait. They show where a player actually scores. But they may not indicate accurately how good they are in their own position.
Now, curiously, James Tavernier was quite high on those types of stats, even in defence. So despite the fact that he scored a fair few and bumped those stats up higher, he did not completely fail as a defender in his final season. Fernandez, however, more or less did.
Rangers expect improvement
This is probably why the hype machine was so significant in the papers. But in reality, there were no actual tangible offers of interest available for the Nigera defender. He is naturally a Nigerian international now but we wonder if he will get a single other cap from here on in.
Nevertheless, Fernandez himself seems to be focused on Rangers. He believes in the manager and what McInnes can offer him and improve him on. Quite frankly, that is badly needed.
If Fernandez is going to be sticking around and is going to be Rangers’ prime leftie, then consequently Rangers need him to be better because Rangers’ defence was not good enough last season. Not just him, of course, but everybody else.
But in the end, he will be staying this summer. Emmanuel Fernandez makes it clear he isn’t departing for new shores any time soon. He himself seems to be quite sure of that.