Rangers defender Rob Kiernan has been pushed even further down the Ibrox pecking order.
Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha
Rangers have secured Vitoria Setubal defender Fabio Cardoso as their fourth signing of the summer, snapping up the centre back on a three-year contract.
After landing Bruno Alves, Ryan Jack and Dalcio, manager Pedro Caixinha has continued his rebuild of the club by bringing in a third Portuguese player in Cardoso to boost his defence.
General View of Ibrox Stadium
The 23-year-old centre back has impressed in his native Portugal, and is seen as something of a coup for Rangers having recently been on the books with Benfica.
Cardoso figures to feature alongside Alves as Rangers’ first-choice centre back pairing, whilst Caixinha will also have Danny Wilson and youngster David Bates at his disposal.
Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha poses with the club shirt
In fact, after securing a deal for Cardoso, Caixinha spoke to the Rangers official YouTube channel about his defensive options, suggesting that he now has four centre backs who can interchange and play together comfortably.
“We try to organise the centre halves not only by thinking about one, but thinking about them as a double,” said Caixinha. “I think we have four very good centre halves that can perform together.”
“Let’s say for example, we need to start playing with David [Bates] and Fabio [Cardoso], later on we can play – for example – with Bruno [Alves] and Fabio, we can play Bruno and Danny [Wilson] when he returns, so we have a lot of options, different options that can work together,” he added.
Rangers’ Rob Kiernan in action with Celtic’s Moussa Dembele
A notable absence in Caixinha’s assessment of the Rangers centre back options is Rob Kiernan, who wasn’t even given a passing mention by Caixinha in a possible nod to his Rangers fate.
Kiernan was a key signing for Caixinha’s predecessor Mark Warburton, reuniting with the centre back having previously worked with him at Watford and Brentford, but his two years at Ibrox have been up and down to say the least.
The 26-year-old was solid in the Scottish Championship, but was found wanting in the Premiership, and Caixinha appears to have seen enough of him after giving him just one first-team appearance, with his comments suggesting that Kiernan’s future lies away from Glasgow.
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