Rangers managed to lure Scott Arfield to Ibrox this summer.
Southampton director Ross Wilson has told The Scottish Herald that he thinks Scott Arfield will prove to be a major success at Rangers having joined the club this summer.
Rangers have been busy in the transfer market, making 11 new signings to boost Steven Gerrard’s squad as the Gers desperately look to chase down Old Firm rivals Celtic.
Allan McGregor, Jon Flanagan, Connor Goldson, Nikola Katic, Borna Barisic, Lassana Coulibaly, Ovie Ejaria, Scott Arfield, Ryan Kent, Jamie Murphy and Umar Sadiq have all signed this summer, and Rangers have started well under Gerrard
Whilst bringing in talented foreign players like Katic, Barisic, Coulibaly and Sadiq is exciting, landing a couple of proven performers in Scottish football was key, with goalkeeper McGregor and midfielder Arfield fitting the bill.
Arfield, 29, hasn’t played in Scotland since leaving Falkirk for Huddersfield Town in 2009, and even chose to switch his international allegiance to Canada in 2016 having continually been overlooked by the country of his birth.
An honest, hard-working midfielder capable of playing centrally or out wide, Arfield will be a key part of Gerrard’s Rangers side this season following his move from Burnley, where he was a regular in the Premier League under Sean Dyche.
Now, Southampton director Ross Wilson – who rejected the chance to become Rangers director of football in 2017 – has told The Scottish Herald that he thinks Arfield is the type of player to work hard no matter what, despite claims that he would ‘stroll’ the Scottish game.
Wilson worked with Arfield at Falkirk and Huddersfield, and backed him for success at Ibrox, believing that he will handle the pressure of the Rangers crowd given his professionalism and temperament, with Wilson believing that Rangers have made a very smart signing.
“Some people might say he will stroll Scottish football but Scott just isn’t that type,” said Wilson. “No matter where he is, he will work ever so hard and however well he does will be determined by that. That is just the type of boy he is. There is a danger that we talk down our game at times. It is a tough league up in Scotland. I watched the Aberdeen Burnley match and it was a tough, tough game. You have got to earn everything you get up there.”
“Scotty is the kind of character that can handle the size of club Rangers are, it won’t faze him at all. Clearly the qualities he has got from his time at Falkirk to Huddersfield and a wonderful spell at Burnley, all of that can only be good for Rangers. You can be as good a player as you like if you can’t handle a club the size of Rangers and everything that comes with it. But there is no doubt that Scotty can handle that. With his character, his temperament, his professionalism, and the family he has around him, there is nothing a guy like Scotty won’t be able to handle,” he added.
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