Fabio Cardoso reflects on Rangers stint and Ibrox exit

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Ex-Rangers defender Fabio Cardoso endured a difficult time at Ibrox.

Former Rangers defender Fabio Cardoso has told Zero Zero in Portugal that his time at Ibrox turned ‘complicated’ after the departure of Pedro Caixinha.

In the summer of 2017, Caixinha was given the chance to re-tool his Rangers squad, and he chose to bring in a number of Portuguese players.

Winger Daniel Candeias arrived having already worked with Caixinha at Nacional, whilst veteran centre back Bruno Alves and young winger Dalcio also signed.

Another addition was defender Cardoso, who arrived at Ibrox having arrived from Vitoria Setubal on a three-year contract in a seven-figure move.

Cardoso was seen as a major addition having been touted for international football, but he only ever made 18 appearances for the club before leaving.

Cardoso headed back to Portugal with Santa Clara, and got back to his best last season, with the 25-year-old now reflecting on his time at Ibrox.

He feels that his time at such a big club was ‘very good’, and was lucky to be there with Candeias, Dalcio and Alves, as the experience helped him evolve as a player.

Cardoso added that, when he got injured in October 2017 and Caixinha was sacked, his time at Rangers became ‘complicated’, as replacement Graeme Murty didn’t really use him, and he and his agent decided it was time to leave Rangers after just a year.

“We are talking about a different reality, but it was very good,” said Cardoso. “I was lucky enough to play the games until I got injured, and then I had to stop for a while. It was the experience that made me evolve the most, for being lucky enough to share a club with Candeias, Dálcio and Bruno. Bruno more for the position and for being someone with a beautiful career. What he taught me was what made me evolve the most.”

“The first six months were very good, but after the injury… it was also the time when Caixinha left. I was about to have an operation, I had to wait. It was the phase of my career where I was not competing for more time and it was complicated. I haven’t played in a long time and I felt that the most important thing was to play, rather than being in a big club or in a completely different financial reality. I spoke to my agent and we thought it would be better to leave than simply stay there to fulfil the contract,” he added.