Signing Bournemouth’s Emerson Hyndman was Rangers masterstroke

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Few players have made such an immediate impact in the Scottish Premiership as this Rangers’ loanee.

Only a few members of the Rangers squad have lived up to their promise this season, let alone performed beyond expectations.

Clint Hill and Kenny Miller have defied Father Time to be arguably the club’s most consistent performances at either end of the pitch, while youth products Barrie McKay and Jason Holt look to have secured bright futures at Ibrox with a number of impressive displays.

However, you could argue that the most strikingly impressive player of Rangers’ first season back in the Scottish top flight has only played eight games for the club, having arrived mid-way through the campaign.

Emerson Hyndman, a 20-year-old American midfielder, was hardly the first name on the fans’ lips. They wanted to see a creative talent arrive at Ibrox and offer some much needed skill and vision in the final third. After all, his last appearance at parent club Bournemouth was that humiliating 3-0 FA Cup defeat to Millwall in January.

Few, however, expected the highly-rated American to have quite such an impact in just a few months in Scotland.

Four goals in the Scottish Premiership, including a last-gasp winner in a crucial clash against fellow European challengers St Johnstone, means only Miller and Martyn Waghorn have found the net more often for Rangers this season.

Though while the strike duo have played 28 and 23 times this season, Hyndman has made just eight appearences, averaging a goal every two games.

It seems almost every Rangers attack passes through the American international. Within just a few short weeks, he has already integrated himself as arguably the club’s most vital attacking ingredient.

And Hyndman’s importance will only increase further in the final weeks of the season. Caixinha, a manager who values high-intensity attacking football, started the midfielder in a free, number 10 role in his debut game in charge – Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing of Hamilton. Hyndman could take his game to a whole new level with the Portuguese pulling the strings.