Last week, FIFPro provided a list of players who had covered the most air miles on duty for club and country. And coming in at fifth was a player loaned out by Rangers in August.
Sitting alongside Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister, Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez and Atletico Madrid’s new £80 million striker Julian Alvarez, Jose Cifuentes travelled over 140 kilometres during 2023/24.
You can now add another 2,000 miles to Cifuentes’ tally. Rangers, a month ago, accepted a bid from Aris Thessaloniki.
The Greek Super League outfit signed the Ibrox misfit on an initial loan deal. One that could become a permanent £4.2 million transfer in the coming months, provided Cifuentes’ lives up to expectations and a contract that makes him reportedly the best-paid player in Aris’ entire history.
But, despite being the footballer with the fifth-most miles covered over the last 12 months or so, the Ecuador international is showing few signs of jet-lag.
Jose Cifuentes flying after leaving Rangers for Aris
Cifuentes has made a flying start to life in Greece.
So much so that he has been nominated for the Super League’s Player of the Month award, a piece of individual silverware potentially coming his way just four weeks after he touched down on the banks of the Thermaic Gulf.
Scoring the winner against Panserraikos on his first Aris start, Cifuentes has already scored more goals for his current employers than he managed in his entire Rangers career.
The former Los Angeles FC midfielder also spent a few months on loan at Cifuentes in Brazil. A fresh start at the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium appears to have provided the shift in gear Cifuentes needed to rediscover the form that caught Rangers’ eye in the first place.
“Remarkable players have come to Aris this year and have already shown their worth,” former defender Spyros Gogolos tells Metro Sport. “Aris is a new team. I want to believe that time will work in our favour.
“We have seen positive things and negative things in these first three matches. The players that have arrived will help and I have a feeling that it will be a good year for the team.
“Cifuentes is a complete footballer. He has showed that he is a high quality player. He will be pivotal in the midfield, and is the player who will make the difference this season.”
Nominated for Player of the Month award already
Aris have only won the Greek Super League on three occasions. And most recently all the way back in 1946.
But after securing a top-five finish in each of the last six seasons, the drive and technical qualities Cifuentes brings to the table could go some way to reducing the gap between Aris and those genuinely fighting for the title.
The 25-year-old was at his most effective over in the MLS when given the freedom to break into the box from midfield. He struggled in an ill-fitting deep-lying role at Rangers, however, meaning it wasn’t just the drizzly Scottish climate that ensured Cifuentes found it difficult to settle in the UK.
“I didn’t experience the sun for the six months I was with Rangers. It was always cold,” Cifuentes told The National, admitting that clubs from Russia, Turkey and England were all interested before Cruzeiro signed him on loan in the spring.
“I like to play as an attacking midfielder, but positioning is something that I adapt to the team for who I am playing.
“There were two Russian teams who wanted to sign me. However, with the war that is going on there, it was something that could not be carried out because European teams are not allowed to receive money from Russian clubs at the moment I think.
“There was a team from the English Championship interested and a club from Turkey too.”
