After Rangers’ Champions League loss to Ajax, Giovanni van Bronckhorst defended his team’s recruitment strategy. The Dutch manager claims that the Scottish media gave an inaccurate impression of the financial prospects.
In addition to dropping their sixth game of the group stage on Tuesday, Rangers will be remembered as the weakest team to ever play in the lucrative league. Due to the 3-1 loss to Ajax, the remarks in Scotland are not sensitive. Van Bronckhorst thinks that after the club earned 23 million euros for Calvin Bassey this summer and Joe Aribo was also transferred to Southampton for roughly seven million euros, expectations have been set too high by the outside world.
Rangers’ Champions League loss: Worst in history
Scottish media questioned Rangers’ pick after it beat PSV to qualify for the Champions League if it had been strengthened sufficiently. “I’ve read numerous accounts of the silver fleet arriving with a large influx of money. But the figures I see in the newspapers don’t add up. There isn’t much money available for spending.” In an interview with The Scotsman, Van Bronckhorst responded to these rumours. Saying that they “generate an expectation that we can recruit new players.”
Van Bronckhorst claims that the club administration has made every effort to make the best selection. In the end, Rangers acquired four new players for roughly $14 million: Ridvan Yilmaz, Ben Davies, Rabbi Matondo, and Antonio Colak from Schalke 04, PAOK Saloniki, and Liverpool, respectively (Besiktas). Additionally, Tom Lawrence from Derby County, John Souttar from Heart of Midlothian, and Malik Tillman from Bayern Munich also joined on free transfers.
Despite the absence of four newcomers (Davies, Lawrence, Souttar, and Yilmaz). Against Ajax, Van Bronckhorst does not intend to use the wave of injuries as an excuse. The former international athlete did mention the variation in rest. Due to the rescheduled Eredivisie match against Vitesse, Ajax got the weekend off. He told BT Sport, “They had six days off, and their league is concerned about their players. They did have a weekend off, but I’m not saying we need help. That distinguishes it.”
