Yesterday, Rangers confirmed that defensive flop Fabio Cardoso left the club after his contract was mutually terminated, just a year after he arrived as one of Pedro Caixinha’s banner signings.
???? Fabio Cardoso: https://t.co/TujCUQHd1m pic.twitter.com/rNCOAO28Lp
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) July 30, 2018
He signed for the club for a reported £1.5m, another seven-figure fee that has gone down the drain with no-one held accountable. It would be far too easy to blame Caixinha, but we know he was hardly pulling the purse strings last summer, simply identifying targets.
Regardless, the real sin is what has happened since he arrived, culminating in not realising any value from his exit.
Making the decision to let him leave for free is incredibly silly from the club’s perspective considering the player still had two years left on his contract, there were clubs interested and he is still only 24 years of age.
It’s not like he’s dropped down multiple levels either. He’s signed a four-year deal with newly promoted Portuguese top-flight club Santa Clara.
Is the suggestion that they would not be willing to pay a single penny for a transfer? No other club in Europe operating at a similar level was willing to pay a single penny for him either?
Clearly you do not want players held at a club against their will, especially if they are pocketing wages and not playing week-to-week, but at some point a line has to be drawn.
This isn’t a one-off either. Bruno Alves left for a newly promoted Serie A club.
These are two decisions that make a mockery of recruitment process at Ibrox in recent years and one can only hope that if any of the current influx of players arriving at the club don’t perform, then we at least treat ourselves with a little bit more respect when it comes to their exits.
What do you make of the Cardoso situation? Let us know in the comments…