If there’s been one surprise over the last month or so, it has been the start to life at Ibrox for Olwethu Makhanya. He came to Rangers with a bit of a reputation and, of course, the usual over the top hype. But this is one rare occasion where a CV, which Ibrox Noise looked into, has been contradictory to what we’ve actually seen on the pitch, and this is in a positive sense. Rangers Olwethu Makhanya is doing rather well.
Olwethu Makhanya has defied his numbers
Ibrox Noise did some digging about the South African defender and his numbers in the MLS were far from impressive. He was quite average in just about every stat that mattered. See here for details. However, the player that we have seen on the pitch at Ibrox has actually been a completely different prospect.
Olwethu very much reminds us of Jean Alain Boumsong. Very strong, very sturdy, reads the game well and does not allow much past him at all. While as yet there’s not a huge understanding alongside him and Fernandez, the former Philadelphia Union defender looks a lot more robust than Ibrox Noise had feared. Indeed, he looks more than capable of coping with the Scottish Premiership and with the shirt so far.
Rangers needed a tougher defender like Olwethu
We’re not saying that he is the greatest defender that we’ve ever seen by any manner of means. But at the moment, this guy looks like the kind of defender that Rangers have probably been needing: a solid, robust and, dare we say it, hard kind of stopper.
He looks like he has a little bit of an attitude and indeed kind of reminds us a little bit of a Graeme Souness type, but in defence: no nonsense, solid and has no qualms about using force and power to stop anybody getting past him.
Rangers have needed a bit of a nasty bastard at the back for quite a long time. Being far too soft has been a huge issue down the rearguard. But this guy looks tougher. He looks a lot stronger and a lot more capable of stopping things.
A promising start at Ibrox for Makhanya
This is not to say he’s a finished article by any manner of means. He is still very young at 22. But the kind of gait that he has and the kind of power that he has hints that he might be enough for the Scottish Premiership as the solid kind of player that Rangers need at the back.
In terms of his stats, they’ve been efficient for Rangers. He has got the clearances, the tackles, the blocks in and he looks very much like he’s actually up to the challenge of playing for a club of this gravity.
Time will tell for Rangers
This is the kind of signing that Walter Smith might have endorsed, even though his CV on paper defied the metric system that Rangers apparently use, and we will have an article coming out about that soon. Nevertheless, his performance on the turf looks far more promising.
It is early days, but it might just be that Rangers Olwethu Makhanya may in fact be of the stock needed to be at the back for Rangers. Time, as always, will tell.