What went wrong for Todd Cantwell at Rangers? | OneFootball

With confirmation Todd Cantwell will leave Rangers, we at Ibrox Noise have to ask:

Where on earth did it all go wrong for him?

When we first watched his talent in January 2023, Michael Beale was being lauded as a genius for securing a player once worth £40M at Norwich, for just £1.75M Rangers pounds.

The fact he was exceptional and exceeded the expectations we might have for a Championship player raised such hope for a player at the time regarded as potentially a new Barry Ferguson, albeit more advanced on the pitch.

This is a lad Aston Villa wanted, but baulked at Norwich’s £50M asking price.

Once that bid failed, his head went down at Carrow Road and his journey there floundered badly – before Michael Beale made the pitch for him to join Rangers.

He was, initially, superb – but there was a caveat we can only see now with 20/20 hindsight vision:

There was no pressure on him.

Rangers had already lost the league under Beale, and Cantwell was basically free to express himself playing the matches almost like they were friendlies. No Europe either, of course, Rangers being dumped out of the Champions League under previous manager Giovanni.

When the pressure began the following summer, that’s when Cantwell’s mentality ‘shone’ through and he was a bottler, an ego-job, a player who believed his hype and couldn’t deliver when it actually mattered.

And that was all last season.

Where did it go wrong for Cantwell?

It never even went right for him!

The boy’s career has been a downward trajectory since that failed bid from Villa in his Norwich days, and he doesn’t have the mental strength to live up to his actual talent.

Yes, make no mistake – Cantwell is furiously talented. He has reasonable pace, he has superb ball control, he has great vision, and he actually works hard. He has a lovely touch, he uses the ball well, and he has all the tools to be as good as any England player.

But he doesn’t have the psychology to match. To play for England, to be Phil Foden, it’s not about talent, it’s about working hard.

And Cantwell’s shoddy off-field nonsense is a big part of why the boy isn’t going to realise his potential in football.

Just like Alex Lowry, the mentality to dig in and graft isn’t there, and both will fail to reach the heights they should.

Philippe Clement isn’t innocent here – he treated Cantwell like garbage from day one, but in truth, he’s probably read him and his attitude well and made a call on how to manage him.

And it absolutely hasn’t worked.

Cantwell is a tale of what could have been – a player with such talent who doesn’t have the mentality to make the best of what he is.

It’s a real shame.

He could have been Barry Ferguson mk2 but just ended up another English prima donna who thought he could stomp all over the Scottish Premiership.

He fell badly short.