Sometimes, the Team of the Season almost picks itself. Even if Rangers miss out on the Scottish Premiership title to arch rivals Celtic, talismanic goalkeeper Jack Butland and captain marvel James Tavernier are almost guaranteed a place in the end-of-year best XI.
Todd Cantwell can probably be confident of a spot too, alongside maybe John Souttar and Abdallah Sima, assuming that lengthy spell on the sidelines with injury can be overlooked.
South of the border, and even with his team only four points above the relegation zone with a handful of games remaining, there was never any doubt about Morgan Whittaker‘s inclusion in the English Championship’s own Team of the Season.
Rangers missed out on Morgan Whittaker
The Plymouth Argyle winger, a transfer target for Rangers back in January 2023, has a remarkable 20 goals and nine assists to his name this term. In league action alone, Whittaker has 19 and eight respectively.
Only Southampton’s Adam Armstrong and Blackburn Rovers’ Sammie Szmodics – making room on his mantelpiece for the Championship’s Golden Boot – have more than Whittaker’s 27 goal contributions in the second-tier.
And, 15 months after Rangers saw a bid of £2 million rejected by Swansea City, a player who joined Plymouth Argyle on a permanent basis later that year looks destined to earn the Home Park outfit a profit that would send David Dickinson spinning.
Neil Dewsnip, director of football and now-caretaker coach of Plymouth, confirmed at the start of this year that Argyle had rejected a bid from Italian giants Lazio (Plymouth Herald).
How much the South Coast club now want for their talisman remains to be seen. But you could probably slap a zero on the end of that £2 million offer Rangers submitted over a year ago, and Dewsnip may be forgiven for still holding out for more.
20 goals and nine assists for Plymouth Argyle
Whittaker has made cutting inside from the right and bending shots into the top corner with his left boot something of a trademark this season. Devon’s answer to Arjen Robben, if you will.
And, even during the ill-fated and short-lived reign of Ian Foster in the Home Park dugout, Whittaker looked like a Premier League fish swimming in a pond he has already outgrown.
“Morgan is part of the leadership group. The personnel I picked for today, he was the outstanding candidate,” Foster said after handing Whittaker the armband in the winter.
“Players lead in different ways, and Morgan this season has led by example in terms of his performances so I had no qualms about giving him the captaincy. I thought he performed well with it.”
“He’s playing particularly well and in my view I would encourage him to continue doing that. He has always had talent and he will continue to develop.”
Rangers could – and maybe should – have picked up a number of highly-talented players in bargain deals in recent years, from Jarrad Branthwaite to Joey Veerman and Andreas Skov Olsen. Whittaker, a spot in the Championship’s Player of the Season the reward for an outstanding campaign, is another ‘one that got away’.
