Danilo could be special for Rangers, but he just isn’t ready yet | OneFootball

Danilo’s starting berth on Saturday really was manager Philippe Clement showing the world just how unfit, how match unsharp and ‘off it’ at the moment the Brazilian striker is for Rangers, and why the former Ajax hitman has been uninvolved with the team this season.

It’s safe to say Danilo, who is actually a talented finisher, a very, very good reader of the play and excellent at finding space, was all at sea v St Johnstone in his first start for the club this calendar year – yes, his big injury was v Hearts as far back as last December, and he’s really, really struggled to regain momentum.

Against the Saints Danilo was miles below the level even needed for senior football in general, never mind a cup match v Premiership opposition.

He was slow, sluggish, sweating profusely and was evidently nowhere near sharp yet.

It looked honestly like Clement was just trying to prove a point about why the boy hasn’t even appeared as a sub yet – he’s nowhere near fit enough.

We’ve seen Danilo at something like his ‘better’ (nowhere near his best yet), and he looks like he has some potential to get a fair few goals for the team but it’s worth bearing in mind his record for Feyenoord was underwhelming – just 14 in 48, with 4 assists. Not really a £6M striker on that form even if those at the De Kuip do have a lot of time for him.

His record with Twente though was a lot better, 17 in 34 plus 5 assists, and Ajax wasn’t bad either, 10 goals and assists in 20. It’s easy to see why Clement wanted him at Brugge back in his Ajax days.

But at Rangers, it’s a bizarre one – his record is the same as it was at Ajax – 11 goals and assists in 22 – a 50% rate.

That’s excellent and worth £6M in theory, but the boy has lost half his Rangers spell to injury and looks well below where he needs to be to justify the transfer fee.

He’s one with potential, even if he’s not a natural target man. He just needs to get fit first.

And that still looks like it’s some way off.