If Rangers were linked with a 21-year old, one of a major footballing nation’s finest young talents and tipped for the top, with roughly 80 senior appearances to his name, a young player of the year and league title medal to his collection already, you’d be excited, even if you didn’t know the player personally – even more so if you are told that you’d beaten off elite level competition to sign him.
That player was James Sands.
So, what went wrong?
USA football legend Alexi Lalas reckons that it is a case of right player, wrong club and he may have a point.
Yes. The aspiration/allure for US players to go to Europe is strong and understandable. But the grass is not always greener. Going to Europe is easy, flights leave every hour. Going to the right place is harder. Good player, wrong place. At NYCFC he can resume moving forward. https://t.co/ekdciQib1F
— Alexi Lalas (@AlexiLalas) March 2, 2023
When asked if he thought that Sands’s return to New York City was good for the club, he said on his Twitter page:
“Yes. The aspiration/allure for US players to go to Europe is strong and understandable. But the grass is not always greener.
“Going to Europe is easy, flights leave every hour. Going to the right place is harder.
“Good player, wrong place. At NYCFC he can resume moving forward.”
I’d have to agree with Alexi. Sands played predominantly as a right-sided centre-half in a back three at NYC, whereas at Rangers, he played most of his football on the left-hand side of a back two in a team that dominated possession and had to defend a whole half of the pitch when out of possession domestically.
Midfield was the same, in a 50/50 game, having someone to cover the ground and retrieve possession is crucial but, for Rangers, being able to build attacks is more important, although I never thought he got a proper chance in midfield once he settled into the club.
Sands will go on to have a good career, and he may well end up back in Europe, he just won’t be back at Rangers.