Neraysho Kasanwirjo suffered a brutal long-term injury in November, just as he was getting to grips at Rangers. His return to the pitch was a triumphant one, though.
After Kasanwirjo was injured on Netherlands duty, the on-loan defender hasn’t been seen on the pitch for Rangers with his temporary deal close to expiring.
Rangers have an option to purchase Kasanwirjo permanently in the summer, but without an appearance in the Gers squad since being sidelined, it would seem that option looks unlikely.
However, the Dutch defender has made a surprise return to action as the Rangers academy triumphed over Celtic to retain the Glasgow Cup, with the coaches involved offering up some promising information on Kasanwirjo.
Rangers coach loved “first-class” Neraysho Kasanwirjo
Kasanwirjo was present at Ibrox against Fenerbahce in the fan zone, which gave fans a glimpse of the defender, but again, it didn’t seem as if he’d make a return to influence Barry Ferguson’s squad.
He wasted no time in making an impact for the youth team last night, though, opening the scoring in a game that Rangers would eventually win on penalties.
His presence in the side was evidently a valuable one, then, echoed by coach Steven Smith’s comments after the game.
Smith said: “He [Kasanwirjo] trained with us yesterday and again, when the first team players come down you don’t really know them, you don’t know their character or their mentality but from the minute he started training yesterday, his mentality and his character were first class.
“He rubbed off on the younger players really well, and I thought he performed in the game really well for his first 45 minutes in a long time, so credit to him for that.”
Whilst it was brilliant to see that he settled straight into the task after being out so long, it’s perhaps not a surprise to hear how well Kasanwirjo adapted to the Rangers youth side, given the internal praise he had before his injury.
Rangers’ high hopes for Neraysho Kasanwirjo behind the scenes
Philippe Clement spoke highly of Kasanwirjo when he first signed for the club, and all signs pointed to the Dutchman being a clever signing for Rangers before his injury.
Kasanwirjo was even compared to James Tavernier, but internal noise suggests that he was always seen as a central defender.
A report from The National said that: “Internally, there was belief that Kasanwirjo and John Souttar could form a first-choice partnership at the heart of the Rangers defence.”
This partnership could still come to fruition, as although Souttar has yet to sign a new contract, he remains a Rangers player until 2026.
Therefore, it all depends on whether Kasanwirjo can build on last night’s return to action and show enough to force Rangers’ hand with triggering the permanent option in his loan deal to form this partnership with Souttar.
