New Rangers signing Cedric Itten is injured already – Gerrard confirms he could be out until after the international breakup.
In the middle of all the talk about how we should be hammering teams way more than we are, actually a compliment when you think about it, let’s take a moment to think about how we signed a striker who is literally already injured.
Swiss internation Cedric Itten, signed for Rangers from St Gallen, was mysteriously missing from the lineup yesterday. We had the usual fan theories, media stoked of course, about fallout with the gaffer or some bizarre attempt to appease Alfredo Morelos (he got benched anyway) but the ultimate truth was he’s already taken a knock and is out.
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard had this to say, as quoted by the Daily Record;
"“”Itten has got an injury he picked up yesterday in training.It’s a calf problem so we will assess that but it looks like he will miss a couple of weeks and won’t be going on international duty.”"
Yikes, though I suspect Itten will be somewhat more upset about missing Swizerland’s Nations League Games than a “crunch match” with Hamilton. It’s still a bit of a blow for the lad’s chances of getting a place cemented in the team, with Morelos and Defoe still to return also.
Itten isn’t unfamiliar with an injury or two, in five seasons of professional football he’s had as many injuries. The net result of this was some 300 days injured and 34 matches, good for basically an entire season. Doesn’t sound so bad, but spread out, and it was spread out, it can be a little bit sketchy.
Of course, that’s a striker thing. Less grit, more skill and always under threat from out-of-control, bald-headed, lunging defenders who mysteriously, but coincidentally, resemble Scott Brown.
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Itten himself hasn’t had much time to impress Rangers fans, having only made one start and come off the bench a few times. No goals, but then the Blues haven’t exactly been getting many of them regardless. Still 23 goals in 42 games for St Gallen is a decent return and he’s still only 23, there’s a lot more to come from Itten even if this isn’t a tremendously inspiring start.
The international break minimises the injury, at least from Rangers’ point of view, so hopefully he’ll be up and running ready for the Dundee United game thereafter. If Gerrard is still worried about getting goals, rumour has it a fancy Argentinian player, with Champions League experience, that Rangers once chased many years ago may be becoming available soon. Just a thought.