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“We did our homework” – The Gers signings that contradict Gio’s transfer claim

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The biggest issue for Rangers this summer wasn’t necessarily the number or quality of players who arrived, it was more about the players we retained instead of making new additions.

The midfield was in need of fresh legs, however, when we saw Scott Arfield and Steven Davis given contract extensions, model professionals but hardly signings that were going to excite the support – the warning signs were there that we weren’t going to be splashing out any time soon.

Speaking to Sky Sports in a wide-ranging interview, Giovanni van Bronckhorst was asked about our summer recruitment and dropped a big hint as to why he is probably still in charge:

“We did our homework, we had a list of potential new players and then that’s when it begins. Is this player available? Can we have them? Is it financially possible to get players? Every window that’s the dynamic you have, you do everything to get players in. We had seven new players in and some started really well, some need more time.

“I think every time that’s the same with new players because they come from different backgrounds and different countries. In the end what we wanted was to reach the Champions League, which we did.

“Of course, we didn’t foresee the many problems we would have with injuries.”

It has seemed, for a while, that this season was always about just qualifying for the Champions League. What other explanation can there be for a manager being allowed to have such a disastrous European campaign and be nine points behind Celtic in the league this early on and still keep their job?

Davis and Arfield have been great servants to the club but they should never be starting domestic games regularly, never mind most of our Champions League games. Obviously, injuries have played their part but we had already lost Joe Aribo and know that Ryan Jack has fitness issues, losing Tom Lawrence and Glen Kamara shouldn’t have had such an impact on our starting XI and yet we had to resort to having the two veterans starting together when John Lundstram was suspended.

Some think that we got the recruitment wrong after we beat PSV Eindhoven, I think it went wrong before the summer break had even begun.

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Rangers went toe-to-toe with Inter Milan to sign Ronaldo when he left Barcelona.

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