Former Rangers full-back Alan Hutton was encouraged by Jefte’s debut against Dynamo Kyiv in midweek but shared what the Brazilian still needs to learn.
The 20-year-old was signed early in the summer from Fluminense as Philippe Clement kickstarted his Rangers rebuild with the £680k capture.
Jefte was heavily linked with an Ibrox move in January but he was on loan to APOEL at the time and that caused issues in getting a deal done.
He featured heavily in pre-season before earning his first competitive minutes in a Light Blue jersey in Tuesday’s Champions League third qualifying round first leg draw versus Dynamo.
Jefte was given the second-half to impress Clement with Ridvan Yilmaz delivering an underwhelming first-half performance for Gers.
And the Brazilian took his chance and proved he could actually be more beneficial for Rangers as left-winger as opposed to a left-back.
Hutton was on co-commentary duty for Premier Sports at the Arena Lublin and took in Jefte’s encouraging debut.
But while he feels the Brazilian has fantastic quality in attacking areas, he’ll need to improve defensively before battling with Yilmaz for the regular left-back berth this season.
Hutton talks Jefte after Rangers debut
Speaking at a press conference to promote Premier Sports’ coverage of Scottish football this season, Hutton said: “Jefte I think will need time.
“I think he’s a young player but with a bit to learn defensively. He’s not a problem going forward, we seen that the other night when he came on.
“He’s more than capable to get forward and take people on, he’s got that pace to create opportunities.
“It’s going to be a good fight between himself and (Ridvan) Yilmaz who’s going to take that spot going forward. But I think he’s definitely got the potential you need to be a Rangers full-back.”
Jefte and Ridvan could play together
Rangers are short of out-and-out quality left wingers at the moment. Oscar Cortes is now out injured for a considerable period of time and Scott Wright was deployed there in his place against Dynamo.
But it was Jefte who looked the more convincing on the left side of Rangers’ attack so could this be a more long-term solution for Philippe Clement?
It means any sort of battle with Ridvan which Hutton alludes to would be avoided and the two can play together on that side.
It’s what Rangers fans are hoping for when they take on Motherwell at Hampden on Saturday given how well Jefte played against Dynamo Kyiv.
