Rangers transfer news: Scott Arfield names the 6 players Rangers should cut loose | OneFootball

Scott Arfield is well-known to Rangers supporters. The former midfielder has thrown down quite the challenge to the current squad: an urgent need for housecleaning at Ibrox. He believes that Bajrami, Propper, Dessers, Yilmaz, Jefte, and Diomande should all be cut loose. That’s no shrinking violet of an assertion, but does he have a point? Do the players mentioned really have a place at Rangers? In this breakdown, I shall try to assess the performances of said players of late, especially in those heated encounters with the old enemy, and on those electrified European nights. And why? Because those are the games that really matter and the players who feature in them need to be on top of their game. Otherwise, the squad does indeed need revamping.

Bajrami and Propper came in with big expectations. You might have thought they’d set the pitch on fire. But instead, they’ve been like race cars stuck in second gear. When you count on them to turn a game, you’re more likely to see the opposition coming too close to scoring. In fact, neither has really grabbed a chance to execute the kind of huge moments that win games. The kind of moments that look more and more like the Holy Grail in our squad as we push on against Celtic and in Europe.

Noa Lang and Riechedly Bazoer have been criticised by the Dutch press for their performance against Norway. They were expected to do much better than they did, and their lackluster showing has been pointed out by several newspapers. Forwards are supposed to create and score goals, and without that there simply isn’t any glory in the game. So, should we be surprised that the game ended 1-1? And there was hardly any celebrating, either by the players or the fans, under those dim floodlights.

And what about Jefte and Diomande—talented youngsters, sure, but are they ready to step into an Old Firm match or, indeed, any other game of the same sort of pressure? Not yet, seems to be the answer, at least according to Arfield. And if we’re being honest, and if we’re placing our hopes in these young men, then we have to ask ourselves what sort of pressure we’re expecting them to be able to deal with. Because football—especially the sort of football we’re talking about here—is a mental game as much as it is a physical one.

Moving on from these six players could mean everything for Rangers. The club might be able to build a fresh squad around players who are willing to give their all for every minute played on the sacred Ibrox turf. And like Celtic, which revamped its squad after tough seasons, only to return to dominance, Rangers might be able to return to the top of Scottish football by getting rid of its dead weight and building with strong, young, hungry, tough, ruthless, and eager players.

In the world of soccer, survival hinges on evolution—pruning away the dead limbs so the healthy branches can thrive. If Arfield’s clarion call is heeded, then perhaps Glasgow Rangers will find themselves poised anew for the contests ahead, both on the domestic front and in Europe. Because, as anyone who knows anything about rivalry will tell you, if you want to make a louder noise than your rival, you have to keep your fighting force in top condition.