“We'll only do business that's right for the long-term benefit of the club”.
Ultimately, Patrick Stewart’s expectations of the January window outlined early in the month played out as expected. The Rangers CEO told reporters to expect “one or two” rather than “three of four” arrivals at Ibrox. He said that, in line with other clubs, those contributing to the first-team would not be sold midway through the season. On whether Rangers would react to opportunities, Stewart added: “The question of whether or not we do business is about both looking at the short-term impact but it's also going to have a long-term benefit as well.”
Come early evening on deadline day, sources at Ibrox were communicating that incomings were done for the window. Lyall Cameron’s pre-contract from Dundee, agreed earlier in the window, was announced at 3pm and Zak Lovelace’s return to Millwall was the only transfer confirmed in the window’s final hours. The Rangers hierarchy had remained hopeful of securing an attacker on the final day but were unable to push a deal over the line, which would’ve been a loan. That player was not PSV winger Couhaib Driouech. The Moroccan is an individual previously tracked by the club but only joined up at the Eredivisie side last summer.
It means Philippe Clement has seen his first-team strengthened by only Rafael Fernandes over the last month externally. The 22-year-old defender is a player that Rangers plan to buy in the summer from Lille. Clinton Nsiala’s emergence on the left side of defence offers a comparative example of the type of deal Fernandes should reflect in time. The former Sporting Academy graduate is further along in his development than Nsiala when he arrived last summer and was brought to a top-five league aged 20. Rangers were exploring short and long-term options in defence but a deal for the Portuguese Under-21 international was viewed as the best of both worlds.
The Ibrox club’s scouting presence in the top five leagues across Europe is now restricted to players like Fernandes (in the first-team but yet to play consistently) or Nsiala (in the second team at AC Milan).
There’s a belief that Fernandes has the size and stature to play the high, aggressive line favoured by Clement and thrive in a man-for-man system. While not as refined in possession as Nsiala, he is a player who has all the attributes to become a centre-back in the top five leagues. Former coach Ruben Pinheiro told the Rangers Review, “Raffa has all the natural conditions to be a top player in that position. The very important ingredient is that he needs time and space to play.”
Cameron was always expected to join the club in the summer rather than the January window - with Tom Lawrence in the final months of his contract and not expected to be awarded an extension. The 22-year-old is far from a finished product but is seen, like the signing of Connor Barron, as a common sense signing. Rangers want to recruit from the Scottish market annually. This is a low-risk, low-cost move for a player who knows the league and will receive a wage that doesn’t break the bank. Some have pointed to the likes of Aaron Hickey and Lewis Ferguson as previous examples of players not pursued at Ibrox that ought to have been.
However, Rangers have also moved for the Dundee midfielder because they believe in his potential, physical capacity and qualities in the final third. Cameron has nine goal contributions in the first-half of this season and has seen a jump in his underlying creative numbers during a second Scottish Premiership campaign. His open-play xG assisted numbers (direct chances created for teammates) of 0.12 per 90 is the highest for any central midfielder outside the Old Firm.
While the Ibrox club remained quiet in terms of incomings there remained two other dominant narratives of the January window - wages saved and young players promoted.
While some suggested that Rangers let go of several first-team players and only added one in return, descision-makers could rightly point to the fine detail. Rabbi Matondo had managed 270 minutes and Kieran Dowell 310 across the entire league campaign. Alex Lowry and Adam Devine were on first-team wages but neither trained or featured in Clement’s plans. Robbie Fraser was allowed to go on loan to receive valuable first-team minutes while Cole McKinnon has been involved sparingly since last season. With both of the latter players about to turn 22, there was little value in either remaining at Ibrox for the remainder of the current campaign.
Earlier in the window the Rangers Review reported that the B team would no longer take part in the failed “best-vs-best” programme. Instead, a restructured system, communicated to staff during an internal meeting last week, will see the best young players step up to the first-team squad and those not ready for Clement’s team sent on loan. Archie Stevens (Dunfermline), Blaine McClure (Kelty Hearts), Josh Gentles (Alloa) and Kristian Webster (Dumbarton) were among the first cohort of that plan in January. As reported exclusively last week, Kevin Thomson will return to the Rangers training centre in a new role at the academy as part of the internal changes.
Technical Director Nils Koppen, CEO Stewart and Clement were all in agreement surrounding the change in first-team pathway. Clement has repeatedly lamented the reluctance of Scottish football to allow B teams to feature higher up the Scottish football pyramid since arriving from a European football culture far more amenable to such ideas. Koppen’s promotion to tie academy football to recruitment and squad planning late last year was viewed as an important step to achieving clarity across the board.
Speaking about the gap between youth squads and the first-team last year to the Rangers Review, Koppen said: “It’s about getting the right mindset, that we should be able to play young players. Young, for me, is not 21, it’s 18, “Getting that mindset right is key. Maybe he will drown a bit while he tries to swim and that will be the next step. Protecting our academy players for too long and keeping them in a safe environment, they're not going to be the players who manage regular minutes. That's a step we have to take.
“We have to be aggressive in the youth market to try to get the best young players in the country and keep investing in that. Because the strong core of Scottish players should come from your own academy. And sporadically, you buy somebody from other clubs, like with Connor Barron.
“It’s one of our objectives, to try and sign one player a season from another Scottish club if they’re there and the deal makes sense and it fits the plan.”
Bailey Rice, Findlay Curtis, Paul Nsio and Mason Munn will all remain part of Clement’s squad for the remainder of this season.
Curtis has scored relentlessly at youth level for two seasons and last week signed a three-year contract extension at Ibrox. Nsio, under contract until next year, was not always unanimously expected to join Rice and Curtis in making the jump but has the talent and technical ability to earn his chance. Clement notably turned to the youngster in the final stages of Rangers’ win over Union in the Europa League recently.
Rice’s talent is well-known and finally, a clear pathway is established for the 18-year-old to develop and play. For too long Rice has watched former Motherwell teammate Lennon Miller thrive under opportunity without being handed his own at Rangers. Munn, who made his debut in the 5-0 win over Fraserburgh, will eventually become the challenging goalkeeper at Ibrox.
There is an argument that Rangers enter the second half of their season slightly light in attacking areas. A theory the club themselves would not dispute given the pursuit of an attacker until deadline day's final hours. Would greater funds have been made available if the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership were closer?
The merits of a plan will always require stress testing. However, the summer recruitment and subsequent squad planning point to a clear direction at Rangers, without knee-jerk transfer decisions and the breaking of wage structures. The squad has assets again in Jefte, Hamza Igamane and others. Youth is being handed a chance. The wage bill has been significantly reduced.
The club have been mired by long-term problems in recent seasons - something only a long-term strategy can solve.
Read more:
Share