Rangers remain hopeful of recouping a fee for Rabbi Matondo this summer after a January loan move to Hannover 96.
But the Bundesliga 2 side better start arresting their form quickly with the £1m option in Matondo’s Hannover contract dependent on promotion to the German top flight.
Matondo burst onto the scene in Hannover with a last-minute debut winner v Hamburg but since then Hannover 96’s promotion hopes have begun to stall.
This weekend’s 0-0 draw away to Kaiserslautern is Hannover’s fourth on the bounce with the club slipping down to 8th in a tight Bundesliga 2 table.
Hannover yet to be ‘rewarded’ for good performances
Rabbi Matondo started the match against 1. FCK in Germany but was hooked around the hour mark.
The 0-0 draw belied the quite remarkable stats in the match, with Hannover having 24 shots on goal and Kaiserslautern having 17.
The match left Hannover 96 captain Ron-Robert Zieler stunned come full-time with every point a prisoner between now and the end of the campaign.
Only six points separate the top nine in the German second flight.
But the former Germany goalkeeper reckons that the impressive performance away from home is a sign that the rewards will eventually come.
This will be music to the ears of Nils Koppen and the Rangers board, who will be desperate to shift high-earner Rabbi Matondo off the Ibrox wage bill permanently.
“There is hardly a team that comes to Betzenberg and dominates Kaiserslautern like that,” Zeiler told the Hannover 96 website.
”We had loads of chances. I can’t explain how this game ended 0-0, but that’s football. If I just judge the performance, we played a very good away game here. Unfortunately, the team didn’t reward itself.
“With this performance, we can look positively towards the next few weeks, because if we keep playing like this, we will be rewarded at some point.”
Rabbi Matondo heads list of Rangers loanees
Rangers have a number of high-earning loan players out performing that the club will hope to recoup fees for this summer.
Whilst Rabbi Matondo is amongst the high-profile, he’s not the only loan Ranger out making an impression in Europe.
Ecuadorean midfielder Jose Cifuentes is eyeing title glory with Aris Thessaloniki in Greece with Rangers hoping to recoup fees £4m on the midfielder this summer.
Rangers will also be glad to see both Kieran Dowell and Ben Davies continue to impress with Birmingham City, who recorded a 30th win of a productive season this weekend.
