After a few days of speculation, Rangers have confirmed that Cedric Itten has returned to Switzerland to sign for BSC Young Boys, our former Europa League opponents.
The club released a statement on the official website where they thanked the 25-year old for his efforts
“Rangers can today confirm striker Cedric Itten has joined BSC Young Boys for an undisclosed fee.
“Striker Itten initially joined Rangers in the summer of 2020, and he went on to make 49 appearances for the club.
“He also scored nine goals, with a number of those being crucial in the delivery of title number 55 to Ibrox in 2020/21, not least a late strike against Motherwell in the December of that season that turned a tight match in the Light Blues’ favour.
“To date, he has been capped seven times by the Swiss national team, has scored four goals and will be aiming to join their World Cup-bound squad in November.
“Everyone at Ibrox wishes Cedric well for this next move in his career.”
Itten was signed on the same day as Kemar Roofe and he was expected to play a key role in helping to replace the outgoing Alfredo Morelos who had been the subject of a £16.25million bid from Lille, that move never materialised and the Switzerland international found himself as third and sometimes fourth choice striker behind Jermain Defoe.
With hindsight, Rangers would probably have gone on to win the league anyway but his goal against Motherwell in December 2020, a game that in previous seasons we might have lost, to give us all three points was one celebrated almost as much as any other that season, for many, that was the league.
When Giovanni van Bronckhorst arrived as manager, it seemed as though Itten would get another chance seeing as the change to our system, Roofe’s injury and Morelos being on international duty after the winter break meant that there was an obvious void in attack, however, poor form and a battle against fitness due to Covid-19 meant that he was never able to make the impact that, on paper, it looked like he was capable of.
He wasn’t an expensive signing and it looks as though we have recouped a decent amount of his initial fee so all we can do is wish him well for the future and, we’ll always have Motherwell – and Madrid – I suppose.