Rangers legend Kris Boyd certainly pulled no punches last month when taking aim at Ross Wilson’s track record during his time as the club’s sporting director.
“Since Wilson arrived in October 2019, the club have signed 25 first-team players. Only two of them — James Sands and John Lundstram — started against Napoli (in the Champions League group-stages),” Boyd told the Scottish Sun, while singling out one man in particular as an example of a hit-rate with far more misses than hits.
“Rangers fans have every right to ask what’s going on with recruitment. The club can’t turn a blind eye to it. Cedric Itten was a waste of money and he was never going to be good enough for Rangers.”
A tally of eight goals in 48 games for the Ibrox outfit certainly helps back up Boyd’s point. As does the fact that Itten, who never looked suited to the fast, dynamic style of play favoured by Steven Gerrard or Giovanni van Bronckhorst, left Glasgow for around half the £3 million fee Rangers paid for him over the summer.
But if the Switzerland international ‘was never going to be good enough for Rangers’, to quote Boyd, then he’s certainly found his level back home. Itten has played 15 games for BSC Young Boys so far. In that time, he’s either scored or assisted a combined total of 14 goals (six scored by himself, eight set up for his team-mates).
Cedric Itten in top form since swapping Rangers for Switzerland
There was a hat-trick of assists against Finnish outfit KUPS in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers. Itten’s finest moment, however, came during a 3-0 thrashing of Lugano. He scored one and set up the other two, securing a result that helped Young Boys cement their place at the top of the Swiss table.
His early highlight reel also paints the picture of a man who looks faster, stronger and far more confident than he did in Rangers blue.
Suddenly, a place in Switzerland’s World Cup squad is Itten’s to lose; rewarded by national team coach Murat Yakin for his fine form with a first call-up in a year during September’s international break.
“You do everything to be in the national team,” Itten tells SRF, crediting Young Boys for helping to get his career back on track just in the nick of time.
“With the move to YB, I already knew that there was a greater possibility of (a place in the Switzerland) squad. I’m very happy that things are going so well for me at YB.”
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