First impressions count for a lot in football, and a couple of Rangers’ summer signings have made a pretty good one.
According to former striker Kris Boyd, Connor Barron was the stand-out performer during Saturday’s 0-0 curtain-raiser at Heats.
Philippe Clement did not go quite that far – the former Aberdeen midfielder, he said, had performed better than that in pre-season – but this was a strong start from the potential long-term Ryan Jack replacement.
Vaclav Cerny also impressed Clement off the bench at Tynecastle.
Lightning struck twice as far as he was concerned three days later in Poland, the Wolfsburg loanee again entering the fray late on and giving Rangers a spark that they had previously been lacking.
It was Cerny – cutting inside in his trademark manner – who whipped in the pinpoint left-footed cross converted by Cyriel Dessers as Rangers claimed a draw with the last kick of the game during a tense Champions League qualifier with Dynamo Kiev.
Cerny’s former Ajax coach Erik ten Hag once labelled him a footballer with ‘special’ talent. And, in his first two outings as a Rangers player, there has been a few tantalising glimpses of his game-changing potential.
Cyriel Dessers rescues Rangers in Dynamo Kiev clash
“It’s his big quality. He has this cross, he has this shot, he has this action, he has his defensive work,” Clement said of Cerny during his post-match press conference, via Rangers’ official YouTube channel.
“He’s coming now just out of four weeks of holiday after Euros. So, he cannot play more minutes now, and (he has been struggling in the recovery after a few actions. But that’s normal.
“So, you see again how much potential there is in this group to make it better in the next weeks and the next months. But we need a little bit of time for that. In that way, this result is very important for the club that everybody sees also the way everybody’s been working and is working to make things better.
“And I’m full of confidence that it’s going to be a really good season now because of that.”
Apart from the aforementioned Barron, Clement has been reluctant to throw his new signings in at the deep end. The manager has already confirmed that patience will be required with Clinton Nsiala and Hamza Igamane.
Robin Propper, the £1.5 million acquisition from FC Twente and who Clement feels is a real bargain buy, will be given time to adapt too, although John Souttar’s worrying form could speed up the Dutchman’s involvement.
If Souttar is facing a battle to hold onto his place, then the same can be said of Ridvan Yilmaz.
While the Turkey international struggled – giving the ball away in the build up to Dynamo Kiev’s opener late in the first half – fellow left-back Jefte Vital really caught the eye.
Excellent start for Jefte on Gers debut
Introduced at half-time for Scott Wright, the Brazilian whipped in a fabulous cross which Dessers was unlucky not to convert and also provided the assist-to-the-assist with a crossfield ball for Cerny in the 94th minute.
Jefte prides himself on his skill and creativity, and already Rangers fans are finding out why.
“We have a lot of potential in the next weeks and months. Jefte is still young. He doesn’t speak the language much but he is a high potential player for the future,” Clement adds of a man who reportedly cost around £700,000.
“We need players for the future of the club and he’s got a lot of potential and played a good second half with his crosses and defending.
“We had six shots on target to their three so we kept on pushing until the end to get the result and I’m happy about that because we want to get this mentality until the last second, to keep on going and believing.
“We have several new players, young players, and they did it. Vaclav was important with the assists and Cyriel kept pushing because he had a few chances which he did well with and the goalkeeper saved well.”
Rangers, thanks to Dessers’ last-gasp intervention, will take on Dynamo Kiev in the return leg in Scotland next Tuesday with a result to build upon.
