Journalist slams Rangers for summer spending on Rabbi Matondo and Ridvan Yilmaz, ‘was it wise?’
Rangers bolstered their squad in the summer with seven new signings, although journalist Jonny McFarlane wonders if the right areas were addressed.
After a mightily impressive Europa League run last season, the Gers board helped Giovanni van Bronckhorst improve his squad with four players across the summer arriving for fees.
Ben Davies, Rabbi Matondo, Antonio Colak and Ridvan Yilmaz all arrived for fees, while Tom Lawrence and John Souttar joined on free transfers and Malik Tillman joined on loan.
But considering the European run and the £23million sale of Calvin Bassey [Sky Sports], the Gers board have been questioned over the size of the summer budget. McFarlane is among those asking the question, and he also pondered why the club hadn’t addressed the very thin midfield.
In particular, the £2million purchase of Matondo [Metro] and the £5milllion signing of Yilmaz [Sky Sports] are questioned by Rangers Review reporter McFarlane.
“Of the seven that came in, I think four have them now have really shown that there’s something there,” said McFarlane via the Rangers Review.
“Rabbi Matondo’s frustrating. There’s a big question about how the money Rangers had has been spent – I don’t think there’s any doubt about that; that’s a valid thing to discuss.
“Yilmaz may be a good player, he may add a lot to the team, but was it wise to spend all that money on Yilmaz when you have such a glaring deficiency in terms of energy and pace and power in that midfield driving forward?”
Poor window
In hindsight, the summer window won’t go down as a huge success in the club. There are definitely signings that have come in and done well, but others are yet to justify their fees in what has been a disappointing season.
Injuries haven’t helped matters, but the weakness of the squad has been exposed in recent weeks, with Van Bronckhorst forced to play players out of position on a regular basis.
As for the midfield, McFarlane is right – it was an obvious weakness in the summer and it still remains a problem now.
Rangers reached a European final last season and yet fielded a midfield duo with a shared age of 71 against Ajax on Tuesday night, with Steven David and Scott Arfield both called upon.
It was neglectful for the board and Van Bronckhorst to overlook the midfield and it’ll desperately need addressing in January and the summer if Rangers are to keep up the pressure on Celtic.
With the Champions League money set to inflate the budget, the squad needs a lot of investment and quickly.
In other Rangers news, Pundit slams Rangers fans after what happened to Leon King on live TV