Jose Cifuentes was one of Michael Beale’s marquee signings in an expensive summer of recruitment at Rangers last year.
The Ecuadorean World Cup star, now 25, was perhaps the longest running saga of the window as Rangers eventually sealed a deal to sign Cifuentes at the beginning of August 2023.
Reports have claimed Rangers paid somewhere in the region of £1m to sign Jose Cifuentes from MLS side LAFC.
But despite the early hype around the deal, Jose Cifuentes toiled in Glasgow and was eventually sent out on loan to Brazilian Cruzeiro in January.
Now six months into a year-long loan deal, it’s not exactly gone swimmingly for the midfielder in Belo Horizonte either.
With Cruzeiro holding a mooted £2m option-to-buy over Cifuentes, the midfielder has returned to Brazil after the Copa America.
And Jose’s fast running out of time to justify a permanent switch.
Cifuentes yet to justify £2m Cruzeiro move
Jose Cifuentes has missed eight Brazilian Serie A games as a result of Ecuador’s Copa America campaign.
But the midfielder never even got off the bench at the tournament as his county was eventually eliminated on penalties by holders Argentina at the Quarter Final stage.
The last year certainly hasn’t gone how the midfielder had planned.
Even before heading to the USA for the Copa America, Cifuentes had also failed to make an impression at Cruzeiro.
Cifuentes has made only one league start for the Brazilians since moving to the club in January, with the Rangers loanee’s minutes largely reserved for the Copa Sudamericana and from the bench in the Campeonato Mineiro.
Now, Brazilian publication O Tempo have confirmed that the Ecuadorean is back training at Cruzeiro as he looks to justify the loan option with Rangers.
It’s certainly not looking promising as things stand – in 18 matches under manager Fernando Seabra, Jose Cifuentes has played only 179 minutes.
That’s not even 10 minutes a game.
Rangers return a possibility
The situation with Jose Cifuentes is yet another hangover from Michael Beale’s expensive transfer window last summer.
The former Ibrox assistant was trusted with a transfer budget of £21m to go and recruit a title-worthy squad but the team struggled to adapt under the Englishman.
After a slight resurgence under new manager Philippe Clement, the legs gave way in the final furlong of the season and the rest is unfortunately history.
It’s interesting to note that all of the club’s expensive signings from last summer have not been without criticism.
Danilo was the most expensive at a reported £6m and spent the bulk of the campaign injured.
There is big expectation as Danilo returns from injury ahead of the new season.
Sam Lammers is a notable absentee from the club’s Dutch training camp as the Gers reportedly brace to make a £1m loss on the striker.
Cyriel Dessers is also the subject of £4.5m exit reports, the striker having been passively aggressively hounded by sections of the Rangers support last season.
Throw the failed transfer of Jose Cifuentes into the mix and retrospectively last summer’s window failed to live up to expectation.
And the lingering situation with the Ecuadorean might not end in Brazil either.
If the ex-MLS star can’t get his act together at Cruzeiro, the midfielder is in line to return to Rangers in January.
Cifuentes signed an £11k per week contract until 2027 only last summer.
