Rangers fans had an exciting summer as new signings arrived from around Europe and beyond with Jose Cifuentes one of the most eagerly anticipated.
The Ecuador international was starring for club and country when Michael Beale sealed a deal believed to be worth around £1.2m to land a player who had been on the radars of several Premier League clubs and valued as highly as £6m.
Having already left Rangers, it’s safe to say that Jose Cifuentes has not hit the heights expected of him but were those expectations fair?
Rangers set Jose Cifuentes up to fail
The 24-year old was described by the previous Gers boss as being versatile and capable of playing as a number six or as a box-to-box number eight.
This was the first red flag.
His assistant manager at Los Angeles FC had a different opinion of how to get the best out of him.
Marc dos Santos believed that as an attacking midfielder or number ten is where Cifuentes would shine.
The second red flag was shortly before his arrival from the States when Beale said:
“I’ve been on the phone and watching him do some work. We are excited to have him here but let’s see when he’s here and settled into the team. He’s a player that can take us to another level.”
So, the manager told us that we were getting a virtual world beater and that Rangers were finally going to see the ball carrying, technically excellent midfield general that we had been missing since Steven Davis got injured.
The reality was entirely different.
Jose Cifuentes wasn’t a bad player for Rangers, but he didn’t exactly make the sort of impact that we had hoped for.
He was ok.
Had he not been given such a big build up though, fans might have been more patient and allowed Cifu to adapt to a new culture and climate.
Moving to Cruzeiro makes sense and, despite the short spell, he has maybe realised that there are parts of Europe where he will struggle to play his best football.
It is a loan with an option to buy so, if he does well, he won’t be back, however, if he does, we will know not to make unrealistic demands of a player who never really stood a chance.
