Is This 29-Year Old Portuguese Winger From Turkish Super Lig A Good Option For Rangers?

Why Daniel Candeias Is A Good Option For Rangers

Rangers are heading the chase for Portuguese winger Daniel Candeias of Benfica, though competition from Turkey means no deal is over the line yet.

The 29-year-old, who plays mainly on the right-hand side, is seen as an expert passer of the ball and is capable of threading the eye of a needle and creating opportunities for the strikers. Reports in Scotland say that Pedro Caixinha is looking to complete a double deal for Candeias and his team mate Dalcio, with Rangers’ summer rebuild getting under way in good style.

Candeias signed for Benfica back in 2014 on a free transfer from Nacional but is yet to play for their first team. Loan moves to Nurnberg, Granada, Metz and lately Alanyaspor have seen him make 85 appearances away from Portugal, scoring 8 goals from out wide.

The move to Alanyaspor was the NINTH loan move of Candeias’ career, which is a slight worry. At 29-years of age, you would have been forgiven for thinking he should have settled by now; something Caixinha will hope, it happens at Ibrox.

In all fairness though, Candeias has been a slow burner but may be coming to his best now. In 28 appearances in Turkey’s Super Lig (rated 10^th in UEFA’s coefficient rankings on 39.2pts compared to the Premiership’s 23^rd place on 18.923pts), he scored 4 goals and made another 4 with a pass completion rate of 72%. Making 1.2 key passes per game, passing 31 times per game in total and even adding a vital 2.2 tackles and 1.2 interceptions each match, Candeias’ all-action displays added plenty to Alanyaspor’s season and even more can be expected next term.

Now that Wolverhampton Wanderers in England have a Portuguese coach and several players from the Iberian Peninsula too, the two clubs could be in direct competition for players from the region. Sticking around in the Europa League would go a long way in ensuring the Glasgow club get first dibs though, as well as offering the chance of regular silverware in Scotland, while Wolves look set for a season of toil in the Championship down south.

It’s hard to know exactly how Rangers’ rebuild will look when it is finally completed, and it’s even harder to say how well Candeias would do in Scotland, but for certain he looks better than the players they have had in such positions in recent times, such as Martyn Waghorn, and so at the very least he would represent a step forward for the Gers.