Kevin Thelwell has backed Youssef Chermiti to be a success at Rangers and says that the club had to move for him now or he would have been out of their price range in the future.
The director of football was speaking at the unveiling of new manager Danny Rohl at Ibrox yesterday, alongside Chairman Andrew Cavanagh and CEO Patrick Stewart, where he defended the club’s decision to spend an initial £8 million on the forward despite not scoring a senior goal in two years.
Chermiti netted for the Portugal under-21 side during the last international break during an 11-0 rout of Gibraltar, but has been unable to get off the mark in a light blue jersey with a barren opening seven-game streak.
“Yussuf has been a top talent for a number of years,” Thelwell insisted.
“You will know my history with Yussuf. I signed him at Everton, and he had some Premier League experience there. I can understand why some fans would say, ‘Well, come on, he hasn’t got the resume yet that shows he is going to be capable of doing X, Y, and Z for our team or being sold for this number or that number’.
“But in reality, if he had even a small resume, he wouldn’t, with some of the qualities that he’s got, be coming to Rangers.
“In the open market, a player like him who has proved he has the ability to score goals, and that is what he will eventually be judged on, will be transferred for a number that we just couldn’t afford.”
- Rangers fan board gives Ibrox expansion plan ‘preferred option’ update
- Patrick Stewart & Kevin Thelwell issue defiant response to Rangers quit question
This point was echoed by Chairman Andrew Cavanagh, who insisted that the weight of his price tag should not be a reason for fans to hold him to a higher standard.
“In today’s football economy, the value of a player isn’t directly tied any more, in the way it used to be, to their production on the pitch,” Cavenagh said.
“People spend more on nines than on any other position. He is largely physical and in those positions, they are 20, 30, 50, 90 million pounds. We don’t look at Youssef and say he has to be the best player on the pitch.
“He is the most valuable because he has the potential to be a great player. He is one of those players that we do expect to contribute but I think we don’t have the expectation that he walks in as one of the more expensive signings and instantly has to be productive.
“We also have some other players in other parts of the pitch who wouldn’t have the same transfer fee who are probably better players, but that’s how football works.”
The 51-year-old has come under fire from fans for, amongst other things, the summer recruitment policy that saw the move for Chermiti sanctioned from his former side, and notably a substantial outlay on Peterborough defender Emmanuel Fernandez, who has played 180 minutes since signing on at Ibrox.
However, Thelwell was resolute in his defence of the transfer policy and believes that, given time, his acquisitions will more than prove their worth, adding:
“I would probably start by saying if we were to look at the first eight games, in the league in particular, we haven’t seen the best of any of the players. Have we?
“So I can completely understand why you would ask the question about recruitment and whether the recruitment has been good enough. I believe that these players are much better than they have shown so far.
“I believe with Danny in charge and with a slightly different style of play, he will bring the best out of those players. But ultimately, he will not only help us to have better performances from them, but he will also help us to win games.”
Thelwell was also questioned about the appointment of his son, Robbie, to the role of head of recruitment, which he insisted was a case of Rangers looking for the best available talent and said that his son’s CV more than backs up his credentials.
“Optically, I think we all agreed when we made this step to appoint Robbie that he was going to be seen in a particular way," he admitted.
“But the reality of the situation is that we want to bring the very best talent there to Rangers Football Club. My view on Robbie's career, Robbie's situation, is he didn't need my help in football.
“He's worked at Aston Villa as a senior scout. He then moved to Norwich City as head of scouting, and then got promoted to player pathways manager. And before we recruited him, two Premier League clubs wanted to take him. Dan Purdy, who's the technical director who he will work for, wanted to take him to Everton Football Club.
“I think Robbie probably went through a more rigorous process than probably anybody else who's employed by this football club, truth be known. What I do know is that he will work 25-8 to bring success for this football club, and him and Dan work very closely together, and work very well together. And I'm looking forward to him proving that he's going to be an excellent employee for Rangers.”
Share