Rangers released Fabio Cardoso after just one season in the Scottish Premiership and now he is being linked with Primeira Liga leaders Benfica.
Rangers fans could be forgiven for wondering if they had made a mistake with Fabio Cardoso linked with a summer move to Portuguese league leaders Benfica.
After all, Cardoso spent just one season at Ibrox but the centre-back was released just 12 months after he joined for £1.3 million (Daily Record). Now, one year on, he could be on the verge of playing Champions League football at the Estadio da Luz.
According to Correio de Manha, Benfica are keen to sign Cardoso after his excellent season with Santa Cruz in the Primeira Liga. The 24-year-old has even scored five goals in 2018/19, more than Kyle Lafferty has managed in the Scottish Premiership since he returned to Ibrox.
But this does not mean Rangers were a little hasty in cancelling Cardoso’s contract once Steven Gerrard took over last year.
Yes, he has impressed since returning home but the Portuguese top flight is a notably slower paced and less physical league than the Scottish Premiership.
While it often takes time for foreign players to adapt, everything pointed to the fact that Cardoso was never going to adapt to life on British shores. His weaknesses were exposed in almost every game as he was bullied by rather middling forwards like Connor Salmon and Rakish Bingham.
Yet Rangers are hardly the finished article, they have looked far more secure with stronger, homegrown defenders like Joe Worrall and Connor Goldson at the back. Cardoso’s ill-fated spell in Scotland was simply the wrong move for an admittedly gifted footballer.
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