Glasgow Rangers signed a few exciting players during the January transfer window, as Mohamed Diomande and Oscar Cortes arrived in Glasgow, along with striker Fabio Silva.
All three are aged 22 or under and injecting this sort of freshness into the first-team squad could work wonders for Philippe Clement as he chases down Celtic in pursuit of the Premiership title.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of a healthy relationship between Rangers and the transfer market, as over the previous few years, it has not been great, with money being wasted on a vast array of players.
Rangers’ recent transfer record
Under Michael Beale, the Light Blues spent vast sums on Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers and Danilo last summer, with the hopes that the trio could fire the club to glory.
Fast-forward seven months and Lammers is currently playing for Utrecht on loan, Danilo is out injured and Dessers has netted only 12 goals since joining.
Beale isn’t the only one to make mistakes when it comes to transfers, as Giovanni van Bronckhorst, his predecessor, also had a few howlers.
While the Dutchman did oversee the sales of Nathan Patterson, Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo, bringing in a solid return for all three, he also undersold a few players.
Cedric Itten is a key example. He departed for a relatively small transfer fee due to Van Bronckhorst looking to raise funds, but over the previous 18 months, Itten’s market value has soared.
How much Rangers signed Cedric Itten for
Following the Covid-19 interrupted 2019/20 campaign, Steven Gerrard spent that summer bolstering his squad ahead of making a proper title challenge to not only win the 55th league title in the club’s history, but to also prevent Celtic from sealing their tenth title in a row.
The likes of Ianis Hagi, Kemar Roofe and Bassey all joined the Gers prior to the season kicking off, but it was the arrival of Itten which looked to have gotten the fans excited about the future.
The Swiss international arrived for a fee in the region of £3m, and it looked like a shrewd move, especially considering he had netted 19 goals in just 34 matches for FC St. Gallen the season before.
Cedric Itten’s Rangers statistics
It was always going to be tough for the striker to take the place of Alfredo Morelos in the starting XI and despite starting just nine matches out of the 37 he featured in for the Light Blues, Itten managed to score six goals and grab three assists.
This wasn’t enough to warrant him a place in the side during the start of the 2021/22 campaign, as the centre-forward was sent on loan to German side Greuther Furth – scoring against Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt – before Van Bronckhorst recalled him in January 2022.
The former Feyenoord manager clearly wanted an extra attacking option in his squad and he detailed his reasons behind recalling him early.
“Will I use Cedric? Yes, we called him back as he has different qualities from Morelos and Roofe,” said Van Bronckhorst.
“In that way sometimes a game will need a striker like him.”
It clearly didn’t work out that way, however, as he scored just twice during the final few months of the season and that summer saw the player go on the move yet again.
With the need for funds in order to secure new signings, Itten was sold for a cut price fee of £1.5m, half of what the Gers shelled out for him just two years previously.
It was another terrible piece of transfer business conducted by the Light Blues, and it has since come back to haunt them, as Itten’s market value has soared since making his return to his homeland in the summer of 2022.
Cedric Itten’s current market value
The Ibrox side struggled during the first half of the 2022/23 season as they slumped to six successive defeats in the Champions League and, while Itten may not have been the answer, giving him regular game time could have boosted his confidence.
Instead, he hit the ground running for BSC Young Boys in Switzerland, and he eventually finished the season with 23 goals and 12 assists in all competitions, going on to win the double in his homeland.
Cedric Itten’s domestic statistics
2022/23
2023/24
Goals
19
5
Assists
4
1
Shots on target per game
1.4
0.9
Big chances missed
3
3
Scoring frequency (minutes)
89
150
Via Sofascore
Not only that, but he ranked second among the squad for goals and assists (23) in the Swiss top flight, along with ranking second for shots per game (2.6), big chances created (seven) and for penalties won (two), as he demonstrated the attacking qualities which he failed to showcase during his spell in Glasgow.
While he may have only scored eight goals in 23 appearances this season, his performances since returning to Switzerland have made the £1.5m transfer fee a wonderful bargain for Young Boys.
According to Football Transfers, the former Gers frontman is now valued at €8.8m (£7.5m) and it is clear the club have endured a slight blunder by letting him leave on the cheap.
If he continues to score at his current rate, then there is no doubt he will attract attention from bigger teams, and they may have to pay a small fortune to get their hands on the goal-scoring machine.
The deal represents yet another poorly constructed exit for a player who was simply not given enough chances to showcase his true worth in Scotlandd.
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