Rangers have gone about their transfer business smartly in this window, and they are sitting pretty after taking care of most of their problematic areas. However, they might face some tough times as Steven Gerrard recently revealed (Daily Record) that he has permitted Daniel Candeias to talk to a Turkish club over a possible transfer.
The winger wasn’t part of the playing eleven for the first round of the Europa League qualifiers that Rangers won 10-0 against St. Joseph’s on aggregate. Now it seems clear why something like that had transpired.
Gerrard gives an update on what Candeias wants
Gerrard recently gave an update on the Candeias situation. The manager said, ”I had a conversation on Wednesday with Daniel, and he said he wanted to go and speak to a team in Turkey. I said I wanted him to stay and fight for the shirt and be part of the squad, but he said he wants to go and explore the situation in Turkey so we reluctantly but respectfully granted him permission. At his age, he doesn’t want to be part of the squad and fight for the shirt without any guarantees. My gut feeling is that he wants to move on.”
What now for Rangers?
There is no doubt that everyone associated with Rangers will be disappointed to see the Portuguese leave. He was a regular for Gerrard last season down the right flank, and he put in some cracking performances in the wide region.
Candeias played a whopping 52 games in all competitions last season and contributed with six goals and 12 assists. It’s true that sometimes his final product let him down. However, in terms of commitment and desire, the Portuguese winger was ever-present.
Rangers are currently well covered with options on the flank. However, there are far too many left-wingers in the squad. Someone will probably have to move down the right to support Sheyi Ojo as Jamie Murphy, Glenn Middleton, Jordan Jones and Jake Hastie all are players who can play down the left.
The signing of Ojo probably didn’t go down well with Candeias, and it seemed like he wanted guaranteed game time over the Liverpool man. Rangers will now hope that they can eke out a good amount of transfer fee for the 31-year-old. Genclerbirligi are the club said to be interested in Candeias. Losing out on him will not really be a blow as Rangers still have plenty of cover on the wing. But Candeias’ experience will be missed, and even Gerrard wanted to keep hold of him.
