Rangers striker Danilo was urged not to make the move to Ibrox by his former Feyenoord teammate Igor Paixao.
Michael Beale was desperate to add attacking signings this summer and brought four new attackers to Ibrox.
Starting the season with a blank in a 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock wasn’t really how Beale imagined the season starting though.
Three of those new attackers started at Rugby Park with Abdallah Sima and Sam Lammers supporting Cyriel Dessers up top.
Danilo was named on the Rangers bench and was brought on for Dessers with half an hour to play but couldn’t haul Beale’s men back into the game.
To put it quite bluntly, Rangers simply cannot afford to have too many more off days in front of goal.
That may sound ridiculous after just one game, but Rangers must chase down Celtic and that means no margin for error.
Danilo could be the man for Rangers once he settles in, especially having hit 14 goals in all competitions for Feyenoord last season.
New Rangers striker Danilo was told to stay at Feyenoord
The Brazilian joined Feyenoord for free last summer and played a vital squad role to help Arne Slot reach the Europa League semi-finals and win the Eredivisie.
Rangers are now banking on Danilo making a similar impact in front of goal – especially having struck a deal worth up to £6million.
Feyenoord didn’t exactly want to lose Danilo and teammate Igor Paixao certainly wanted him to stay in Rotterdam.
Paixao – no relation to the former Hamilton Academical striker Marco Paixao – joined Feyenoord from Coritiba last summer.
The winger struck up an instant bond with fellow Brazilian Danilo, who helped Paixao settle into life in the Netherlands.
Paixao has now told NOS in the Netherlands that he asked Danilo to stay but appreciates that he had to focus on his family and his own career.
Paixao did though call Danilo a ‘brother’ to him and will ‘always cheer for him’ at Rangers having done so much for him at Feyenoord.
“I asked him to stay, but of course he has to decide that himself with his family,” said Paixao. “I will always cheer for him, I am grateful for his help. Danilo is like a brother to me. I didn’t speak English when I came here. He welcomed me very warmly and his family was also kind to me,” he added.
