Rangers know only too well that, if a new signing immediately proves himself to be a level above the Scottish game, it does not take long for the piranhas to circle.
Premier League interest has emerged in Hamza Igamane already, while Chelsea have been linked with Jefte despite a mixed start to life in Glasgow.
Carlos Cuellar spent just one season at Rangers before moving to Aston Villa. Calvin Bassey was a first team regular with the Gers for around the same amount of time.
And, while technically an academy graduate rather than a player brought in from outside, Nathan Patterson left for Everton after fewer than 30 first-team appearances north of the border.
But when Rangers signed the highly-rated teenage midfielder Aaron Niguez from Valencia on a two-year loan – with a £2 million option-to-buy clause in his contract – the 19-year-old was quick to point out that he did not see Ibrox as a mere stepping stone on the journey to something greater.
- READ MORE: The Best Rangers Loan Signings of All-Time
Aaron Niguez wanted to emulate Mikel Arteta at Rangers
By his own admission, an initial short-term deal was supposed to be the pre-curser to a more long-term arrangement.
“I have not just come here to play and then leave again,” Niguez told The Independent shortly after putting pen to paper in 2008. “I am here for two years and I want to progress in that time.
“It is my hope that I do well enough for Rangers that they want to sign me and keep me here on a permanent deal.
“I am not even thinking about a life beyond Rangers. You never know what will happen in your career over time but I want to be here. I am only focused on working hard so that the club takes up its option to buy me and I am here for many years.”
Niguez, a Valencia academy graduate who had spent the previous season on loan in Greece, became only the fourth Spaniard ever to play for Rangers when he made his debut in the 7-1 hammering of Hamilton Academical, providing an immediate assist for compatriot Nacho Novo.
Niguez also joined in the same summer Cuellar departed for Villa Park. Yet, it was another Spaniard who the silky attacking midfielder was hoping to emulate in that blue shirt.
“In coming here after a loan spell elsewhere, I suppose I am doing the same sort of thing as Mikel [Arteta] did before,” Niguez added.
Cult hero Arteta arrived at Rangers from Barcelona via a loan spell at Paris Saint-Germain. The now-Arsenal boss would make such an impression in Glasgow – especially during that treble-winning 2002/23 season – before going on to become a Premier League stalwart over the next decade.
“It’s tough to be a success in football and you have to take things step by step,” Niguez said. “When you look at Mikel now, he is a big success in the English Premier League. I want to take things gradually so that I end up being a big success here.”
Former Spain U21 starlet explained why Ibrox spell went wrong
Those best-laid plays, however, quickly went awry for Niguez.
The late-great Rangers boss Walter Smith described the then-Spain Under-21 international as a footballer of ‘fantastic pedigree’. Yet, just 12 months later, his two-year loan was cancelled following a grand total of three Premiership appearances totalling a combined 40 minutes on the pitch.
Only six days before Rangers terminated his deal, Niguez was telling the media how excited he was to return for another season at Ibrox, having rejected Valencia’s attempts to bring him back to the Castellon coast ahead of schedule.
He certainly did not come close to matching Mikel Arteta’s impact or legacy. But that was not for a lack of trying.
Now 35 – and now the second-most famous footballing member of the Niguez family after former Atletico Madrid, Chelsea and Spain midfielder Saul – Aaron would go on to represent the likes of Almeria, Elche, Braga and Malaga during a nomadic career which came to an end in 2022.
“Nobody likes to leave a club as big as Rangers, but I’m young and to progress as a player you need to play,” Niguez would reflect when asked why things didn’t work out in the way he had planned at Ibrox.
“I learned many things at Rangers and I improved on the physical side and I know what it’s like to be at a great club. It was a wonderful experience because I’ve now sampled another culture and met new people.
“My problem was probably that I was too young and the coach preferred to trust more experienced players. I don’t hold anything against the coach.
“Every manager has their own ideas and there is no magic formula to be successful.”
