Three years after leaving home to embark on a European adventure, former Rangers B team striker Juan Alegria is back in Colombia.
After signing from FC Honka in 2021, it was hoped that the then teenager could go on to follow in Alfredo Morelos’s footsteps, however things haven’t quite gone to plan.
Since leaving Rangers earlier this year, Juan Alegria has returned to Finland on a short-term contract but has now announced that Jaguares in his homeland is his new destination.
At 21-years old, the youth international needs to find a place to settle and develop as a player.
Adding loan spells at Falkirk and Partick Thistle, Jaguares will be his fifth senior club.
Juan Alegria heads home after failing to make Rangers breakthrough
Physically, Rangers signed Juan Alegria looking like a player who would already be able to cope with senior football and an immediate impact in the B team saw his progress accelerated.
Unfortunately, he just hasn’t been able to take the step up with his best spell coming at Falkirk during which he scored six goals and had three assists in 16 games.
After returning to Finland from Rangers, Juan Alegria was none too complimentary about how he was treated at Ibrox and claimed of “disrespect” but there was a hint of bitterness and maybe an unrealistic expectation of his standing in the club.
He had good numbers for the B team but Robbie Ure, Rory Wilson and Tony Weston out-scored him consistently across the various academy age groups.
Rangers might not have made any money out of signing Juan Alegria, however, that doesn’t mean that the recruitment team should be put off from signing such players in the future.
Alegria was signed young enough that, if he had progressed to the first team, that he would have counted as a home-grown player.
At a time when the Premier League is cherry picking our best players, looking further afield should always be considered.
