Over the last few years it’s been slim pickings with Rangers signing players of genuine international quality and pedigree, for the obvious reasons like money and league standing has hindered us massively when it comes to attracting players of this caliber. When it was announced in the summer that Pedro had secured the services of none other than Bruno Alves I honestly thought it was a wind up to start with, first of all, it was a player who I didn’t have to google for once and secondly, I had recently seen him play for Portugal at the Euros.
Don’t mistake me for saying Bruno is the best Internationalist ever to pull of the famous blue jersey but it’s certainly been a good few years since we’ve had the opportunity to sign a player who is regularly playing for his country. Since making his senior debut in 2007 he’s accumulated 94 caps for the Portuguese squad. It’s clear to see he’s been playing a pivotal role for the national team and you don’t acquire that many caps without being able to perform at the highest level.
Leading up to the Euros last summer Bruno played in a final warm-up friendly against England where he was sent off for a crazy head-high challenge on Harry Kane. Unfortunately, Alves only played one full game during that campaign with an appearance against Wales in the semi-final due to a Pepe injury. Portugal ran out 2-0 winners to progress to the final where they would play the home nation France. Portugal went on to win the tournament in extra time and secure their first major honour.
Having a player of his experience with both club and country can only help being in the current squad, with younger players like Ross McCrorie and Jamie Barjonas breaking into the first team, his knowledge of the game will surely help them try and cement a place in the starting eleven. Also coupled with Fabio Cardoso playing at centre-half, it must help having a fellow Portuguese player beside you on the pitch. Although Alves has been missing recently with injury, it’s hard to deny when he has been playing he’s been pretty solid.
I’m not going to sit here and say big Bruno is one of the best we’ve signed in our long and proud history, far from it but it’s certainly good to see the club having the ambition to sign these type of international recognised players. Let’s hope the new manager will also have the same influence in attracting quality signings.