As Rangers know only too well, while a short-term loan signing may be relatively low on risk, success can never be guaranteed.
While Vaclav Cerny has been nothing short of a revelation in Rangers blue – the Wolfsburg-owned winger is keen to stay at Ibrox and the feeling is very much mutual – Nils Koppen and co may be digging out their microscope and searching the smallprint for a way out of the £4 million purchase clause included in Oscar Cortes’ contract.
Rafael Fernandes arrived at Rangers hoping for first-team football after struggling for game time at Lille. It’s fair to say those plans have gone very much awry.
And in terms of those sent in the other direction, while Kieran Dowell has surely earned a place in Birmingham City’s plans long-term, the jury is very much out on Jose Cifuentes at Aris and Rabbi Matondo at Hannover.
According to the terms of their agreements, Rangers could earn over £5 million if Cifuentes and Matondo join Aris and Hannover respectively on permanent deals.
However, while a reported £4.2 million deal for the former remains up in the air, the latter could yet find himself returning to Glasgow with his tail between his legs and his luggage hastily crammed into a suitcase.
More Cortes than Cerny, certainly.
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Rabbi Matondo’s Hannover spell goes sour as Rangers fear summer return
Even before Hannover’s insipid 1-0 defeat by Karlsruher on Friday night, the narrative had already begun to turn against him.
Rabbi Matondo opened his Wales account at the thirteenth time of asking during the international break but, that brief respite over, a subsequent return to club football saw him limited to five minutes off the bench during a defeat which leaves Hannover sixth and glancing nervously over their shoulders at the chasing pack.
Since bringing former Schalke starlet Matondo back to Germany, promotion-seeking but out-of-sorts Hannover have won just two of their nine Bundesliga.2 matches. Only one of those came with the ex-Manchester City youngster on the team sheet.
German press criticise Matondo as old habits return for Ibrox loanee
To think, Matondo had made a flying start in Germany with a dazzling goal on his Hannover debut in a 2-2 draw with Hamburg. Talk about a false dawn.
With neither a goal nor an assist to show for his efforts seven games on – and without a single league start since early February – a ‘spectacular’ start has given way to a shuddering return to type.
“The Welshman got off to a spectacular start with a spectacular goal,” German publication Liga Zwei write. “But [Matondo] was unable to confirm his initial impressions.
“[He has] failed to make the impact he’d hoped for and has since been substituted.
“For the ’96ers’ to exercise the purchase option negotiated with Rangers, which is said to be worth just over one million euros, Matondo must improve significantly in the final stretch of the season and present arguments in his own favour. Otherwise, they will likely part ways again in just under two months.
“Re-signing the loan player is currently very questionable.”
The Rangers supporters who watched Matondo’s time in Scotland unfold will understand the frustration. One breackneck performance in which a corner appeared to have been turned, only to see Matondo charge headfirst into another dead-end.
Habits, it seems, are eternally difficult to break.
