A word of warning to John Lundstram, Borna Barisic or any of the other players who may be saying their goodbyes to Rangers over the coming months.
The grass, as they say, is not always greener elsewhere. In some cases, it is not even grass at all. Instead a decaying field of dried out stalks and yellowing weeds.
You certainly don’t want to end up like Ryan Kent, the forgotten man of Fenerbahce who has played only five minutes of Super Lig football since mid-November. Or Alfredo Morelos, seemingly booed by his own supporters despite scoring a rare goal in a miserable spell at Santos earlier this month.
Mateusz Zukowski found himself dumped to the reserves by Slask Wroclaw recently too, while Glen Kamara suffered play-off final heartbreak as Leeds United lost to Southampton at Wembley.
Fashion Sakala may have succeeded in Saudi Arabia, but he is certainly the exception rather than the rule.
And then there is Filip Helander.
Filip Helander on the move again one year after Rangers exit
Returning to Scandinavia after the expiration of his Rangers contract last summer, Helander’s time at Danish outfit Odense Boldklub started brightly. He even forced his way back into the Sweden squad while putting the injuries which ruined those final few years at Ibrox behind him.
But the early optimism soon gave way to gloom and despair. Helander was handed the captain’s armband by OB in February but lost it in April, the club feeling that the pressure of his leadership role was impacting his performances in all the wrong ways.
Helander didn’t even get off the bench for the 2-1 defeat at Viborg FF on Saturday that consigned OB to relegation from Denmark’s top flight.
Speaking to Bold a few weeks back, the former Bologna stopper admitted that he had no interest in playing second-tier football in 2023/24. So it will have come as no surprise to a dejected OB fanbase when it emerged that Helander – along with the similarly experienced Tom Trybull, once of Blackburn Rovers and Norwich City – would be leaving the club imminently.
Released and relegated
“Tom Trybull and Filip Helander have received (their) flowers,” sporting director Enrico Augustinu said, confirming that the one-time £3 million Rangers signing would not be extending a contract which runs out on June 30th.
Nearly 12 months on from Helander’s farewell, Rangers’ backline is still in the process of being rejuvenated. The expected arrival of Jose Cordoba from Levski Sofia, however, suddenly no longer appears likely after Philippe Clement’s side reportedly walked away from discussions over a £3.2 million deal.
Cordoba, according to reports, could now end up in England with Norwich instead.
