Jose Cifuentes hasn’t really got going in his Rangers career yet, what hasn’t helped his cause is being in and out of the team and Michael Beale changing formation every five minutes.
The 24-year old was in the starting XI for Ecuador last night, partnering Moises Caicedo in midfield, the now, reported, £100m man.
Unfortunately, Jose Cifuentes was hooked before the hour mark having failed to make the sort of impact that his former assistant manager at Los Angeles FC thought he could and that Rangers are expecting too.
Jose Cifuentes needs to make Caicedo impact for Rangers
For perspective, it was Caicedo who was credited with two assists in Ecuador’s 2-1 win over Bolivia despite being a more defence minded midfielder.
This is the sort of thing that Jose Cifuentes should be doing for Rangers and his country, as explained by Marc Dos Santos when compared to his compatriot:
“Sure, they have some similarities, but Caicedo is more of a no.8 or no. 6. Cifuentes is a bit more forward-thinking and is best suited as a no.8 or even as a no.10. I would describe him almost as a half-eight.”
We’ve seen Cifuentes once in that number 10 position, against St Mirren before the international break.
In fairness, he looked a lot more like the player many thought Rangers were signing being involved with the build-up that led to the penalty and being unlucky not to score when his goal bound shot was blocked by a defender.
These are the positions that the new manager has to get him in more often, positions that saw him draw comparisons with Paul Pogba – but in a good way.
If Jose Cifuentes wants to be a success at Rangers and in Europe, he could do a lot worse than looking at the player he had alongside him against Bolivia and take a leaf out of his book.
