Juninho Bacuna says he didn’t get a chance at Rangers
Juninho Bacuna has told the Scottish Sun that he made his decision to leave Rangers after he wasn’t given a chance by Giovanni Van Bronckhorst.
Bacuna signed for the Bears under Steven Gerrard from Championship side Huddersfield but made just nine appearances before he left for Aston Villa.
When Van Bronckhorst came into the club, Bacuna would only make one more appearance in the league before joining Birmingham during the January transfer window.
Now speaking following his move to the Scottish Sun, Bacuna says he was never given a chance by the new boss and opted to leave for more regular game time.
“The first half of the season was a bit hard for myself. I had to get fit, played a few games and then the new manager came in, I didn’t really have a chance to play. That was hard for me.
“I don’t see my Rangers career as a missed opportunity. I went there with great hopes to play games.
“I didn’t get my chance with Rangers so you make a decision ‘Are you going to stay or leave to play games?’ I made my decision to come to Birmingham to play games.”
Right decision
This was a rare move where it just happened to suit all involved parties.
Bacuna was never really good enough for Rangers and that was clear even from the limited amount of opportunity he got at the club.
When he left, there were very few fans who cared too much about the deal and it freed up a place in the squad for Van Bronckhorst to eventually be able to bring in Aaron Ramsey.
The likelihood is that the boss didn’t need to see any more of Bacuna to know that he wasn’t of the required level, and Bacuna wasn’t willing to wait around to see if his fortunes would change.
If anything, the club improved their situation this winter because the arrival of Ramsey is a huge upgrade on Bacuna even if he’s only available for half the games because of fitness problems.
Simply put everyone won here, including Rangers.
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