Rangers spent so long trying to tempt Scottish Premiership rivals Hearts into selling Jamie Walker, but they did not need him at Ibrox anyway.
Daniel Candeias has represented 13 different clubs in the last decade, so reports that he signed a new two-and-a-half year contract to commit his future to Rangers last week is quite a big deal.
It is understood that Candeias moved to Ibrox from Benfica this summer for a fee of around £700,000 and signed a two-year deal. But he has now extended that by a further year on improved terms; just reward for a fine debut season in Scotland’s top flight.
And, understandably, Rangers fans are delighted. Candeias, a hard-working winger blessed with a pinpoint cross, has become a real terrace favourite at Ibrox thanks in part to his nine assists and six goals, one of which came in the Old Firm derby against Celtic earlier this month.
But, most of all, Candeias’s new deal perhaps shows that the recruitment drive carried out by Pedro Caixinha last summer, a few months before he was given the boot, was not all bad.
And, above all, the journeyman winger has ensured that Rangers’ failure to bring in Jamie Walker from Hearts after a prolonged transfer saga has not really mattered.
Forgotten saga
Rangers made a number of bids to sign Walker in August, two months after Candeias’s rather under-the-radar arrival at Ibrox. However, the Glasgow giants steadfastly refused to meet Hearts’ £1 million asking price for the sprightly winger according to the Daily Record.
Rangers were even linked again in January and by the time February began Walker had a new club, although it was League One promotion chasers Wigan Athletic rather than Rangers.
In all competitions this season, however, Walker has scored or assisted four goals for Hearts and Wigan combined – a paltry tally compared to Candeias’s 15.
And with the Portuguese in this form, few at Ibrox will be regretting the failure to pay £1 million for Walker now.
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