Fabio Cardoso was brought to Rangers by Pedro Caixinha in the summer of 2017.
Arriving from Vitoria Setubal with a decent reputation, there were high hopes he would make it at Rangers.
However, he ultimately failed to impress at Ibrox.
He offered a sizeable physical presence, but never looked fully settled, making just 18 appearances in the famous shirt.
Since returning to his native Portugal with Santa Clara, though, it’s been a different story.
For starters, he’s found a scoring touch we didn’t see at Ibrox. The £1.13 million-rated defender [Transfermarkt] has scored five times already this season, showing good proficiency in the air on multiple occasions.
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Most recently though, it’s his bread and butter defending that’s been standing out the most.
With Cardoso captaining the side and leading the defence, the Primeira Liga newcomers have registered four clean sheets in their last five outings.
The one blemish was a still respectable 1-0 defeat to Portuguese giants, Sporting Lisbon.
Clearly, 24-year-old has his career back on track.
The fact that he’s registering these sorts of stats with a newly promoted side, makes them all the more impressive.
He may not have made it at Ibrox, but it’s now clear that wasn’t necessarily a scouting error.
Cardoso can really play and if he maintains this kind of form it might not be long before a bigger club swoop in.
