While Sam Lammers’ loan spell at FC Utrecht could hardly be going better – a man who’s confidence faceplanted straight into rock-bottom at Ibrox playing again with a swagger in his step – the same cannot really be said of the Dutchman’s former Rangers team-mate.
Farmed out in January after making only nine Scottish Premiership appearances, a player who joined Rangers in a £1.2 million deal during the dying embers of the Mick Beale era is yet to make a single start for his new club.
Jose Cifuentes has been restricted to a handful of cameo appearances at Cruzeiro, averaging 19 minutes of action per match.
To complicate matters further, the manager who brought him to the Brazilian outfit in the first place has now been dismissed from his post. Nicolas Larcamon, who was so full of praise for Cifuentes when he joined Cruzeiro on an initial temporary deal in February, paid the ultimate price following the 3-1 defeat to Atletico Mineiro in the final of the Campeonato Mineiro (Ole).
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“The deal is complete. We have an option to purchase Jose Cifuentes at the end of his loan. I am sure that will happen,” Larcamon said a few weeks back, via the Daily Record.
“He is a very complete player and will bring significant benefits to the team. Jose has many qualities to his game. He’s very comfortable on the ball and he will bring aggression to the team too.
“He will help our midfield a lot. He will be an excellent addition to the squad. We hope to have him in the team as soon as possible.”
Time will tell what Larcamon’s exit – and the appointment of Fernando Seabra as his replacement – means for Cifuentes’ hopes of sealing apermanent departure from Ibrox. It’s worth pointing out that, despite Larcamon’s obvious admiration for the Ecuador international, it’s not as if Cifuentes had established himself as a key member of his starting XI.
Perhaps opportunities will be a little more forthcoming under Seabra.
Any decision over Cifuentes’ future, meanwhile, will not be made until the summer at least. The former LAFC star – who could reportedly earn Rangers a cool £2.5 million – is tied down to loan deal which runs until December 2024.
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“Negotiating is part of the game,” Cruzeiro’s sporting director Pedro Martins tells the Cruzeiro Esporte Club YouTube channel. “And so we are evaluating all cases (with our loan players).
“(Keeping Cifuentes) is a decision that will take place in the middle of the year. And the club is preparing itself so that, if it is necessary to execute the purchase options, we can structure ourselves so that we do not break the club (financially).
“I believe that, of the players who came on loan, the vast majority will want to stay. And that counts a lot in negotiations.”
Lammers’ future, meanwhile, appears a little more cut and dry. Rangers reportedly want to sell. And, finances permitting, Utrecht would jump at the chance to secure his services for the long haul.
