New Glasgow Rangers head coach Danny Rohl has a huge job ahead of him after the club officially confirmed his Ibrox appointment on Monday.
The German boss arrives just days before a trip to Brann in the Europa League, and is taking over a team that won five of their 17 matches under the previous manager.
Russell Martin was unable to get a tune out of the squad that was built by the 49ers during the summer transfer window, as evidenced by his statistics in the graphic above.
The Martin signings most at risk under Rohl
The first thing that Rohl needs to do as the new head coach of Rangers is assess the squad to get a rough idea about what his preferred XI and usual set of substitutes will be.
As shown in the graphic above, Martin made plenty of additions to the team during the summer transfer window, but not all of them hit the ground running, as evidenced by the results.
Youssef Chermiti, who has not scored a competitive club goal since he left Sporting in 2023, may be at risk, as he has failed to deliver a goal or an assist for the Gers. Max Aarons, on loan from Bournemouth, may also be at risk as he has fallen down the pecking order in both full-back positions.
Joe Rothwell, per Sofascore, has lost 53% of his duels in midfield in the Scottish Premiership this season, and he could be at risk if the manager wants more robustness in the middle of the park.
One of the summer signings that Rohl must bin when the next window opens, though, is central defender Nasser Djiga, who should be sent back to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Why Danny Rohl should let go of Nasser Djiga
Martin swooped to sign the centre-back on loan from the Premier League side in the summer, but he has failed to prove his worth in the opening three months of the campaign.
Djiga’s worst moment so far, which was described as “disastrous” by Heart & Hand’s David Edgar, was when he inexplicably left the ball to allow Romeo Vermant to score for Club Brugge in the Champions League play-off.
There have been other contenders, though, as he was sent off against Dundee for a last-man foul in August, and Michael Stewart claimed that he “has not helped his team out” after the defender stayed on the floor calling for a foul in the build-up to Alloa Athletic’s first goal in the League Cup.
This shows that the centre-back has failed to perform on multiple occasions across multiple competitions for the Gers since his move to the club on loan.
A loan player for a club the size of Rangers should either be a player who fills a gap, which you could argue Max Aarons does as a back-up full-back, or has the quality to make an immediate impact on the pitch.
Djiga, unfortunately, does not hit either of those criteria at the moment. Whilst you could say that he fills a gap as a back-up centre-back, it is at the expense of Emmanuel Fernandez, who has not made a matchday squad since August.
Dundee United
0
Falkirk
90
Sturm Graz
0
Livingston
0
Genk
0
Hibernian
0
Hearts
45
Celtic
90
Club Brugge
90
Club Brugge
90
As you can see in the table above, Djiga has largely been an unused substitute across all competitions for Rangers since he was hauled off at half-time against Hearts.
The Gers reportedly paid a fee of £3.5m to sign Fernandez from Peterborough United in the summer, and sporting director Kevin Thelwell claimed that he “can have a big future” at Ibrox.
It does not seem prudent to spend £3.5m on a promising young centre-back only to exclude him from matchday squads in favour of a loanee defender, with no option to buy, who has made several costly mistakes this season.
Therefore, Rohl should axe Djiga from the squad, if there is an early release clause in the loan deal or if Wolves are willing to take him back, in January and should look to afford Fernandez more chances to prove that he was worth the £3.5m investment in the summer.
