Glasgow Rangers head coach Philippe Clement made plenty of changes to his playing squad during the summer transfer window to shape the team in his image.
The Light Blues manager was ruthless with his decisions as he allowed a number of experienced, long-term, Gers players to move on from Ibrox.
Jon McLaughlin, Borna Barisic, Ryan Jack, John Lundstram, and Kemar Roofe were all allowed to depart on free transfers at the end of their respective contracts.
That allowed head of recruitment Nils Koppen and Clement to bring in the likes of Nedim Bajrami, Vaclav Cerny, Robin Propper, Connor Barron, and Jefte, among others, during the summer transfer window.
The Rangers chiefs were not finished gutting the squad of experienced, ageing players, though, as they also sold Connor Goldson, Scott Wright, and Todd Cantwell, whilst allowing Ben Davies to join Birmingham City on loan until the end of the season.
They decided to invest in young talent and had to remove the growing group of experienced duds with little room to improve and develop in the years to come.
One of the younger stars to depart, however, was attacking midfielder Todd Cantwell, who endured an odd time at Ibrox during his spell at the club.
How much Rangers paid for Todd Cantwell
In January 2023, former Rangers head coach Michael Beale swooped to sign the former England U21 international from Norwich City for a reported fee of £1.5m, with his contract at Carrow Road due to expire that summer.
The English maestro hit the ground running in Glasgow and caught the eye with his impressive performances as both a scorer and a creator of goals.
Cantwell made 16 appearances in the second half of the 2022/23 Scottish Premiership campaign and contributed with six goals and four assists under Beale, whilst creating five ‘big chances’ and making 1.3 key passes per game.
The 26-year-old, who was deployed on the left of a front three or in the number ten role for Rangers, then had mixed success in his second season with the club.
Beale, who signed him for the Light Blues, was sacked and replaced by Philippe Clement in October of the 2023/24 campaign, which may have impacted his progress.
Appearances
30
Starts
24
Goals
7
Big chances missed
7
Assists
5
As you can see in the table above, he only started 24 games and had to come on as a substitute in six matches last season for the Scottish giants.
In those 24 starts, though, Cantwell did provide seven goals and created seven ‘big chances’, which showed that he can produce regular quality as both a scorer and a creator of goals.
However, the forward then decided that he wanted to leave Ibrox this summer, handing in a transfer request, and was sold to Blackburn Rovers for £500k.
This meant that Rangers made a £1m loss on Cantwell in his 18 months at the club. Things could have been so different for the Gers, however, if they had landed one of their other winger targets from the January window in 2023 – Antoine Semenyo.
Rangers' reported interest in Antoine Semenyo
Ahead of the January transfer window in the 2022/23 campaign, it was reported that Rangers were one of the teams interested in signing Bristol City attacker Antoine Semenyo.
His contract with the English Championship side was due to expire at the end of the season and SportsWorldGhana reported that the Gers were preparing an offer of £5m to sign him in January.
The Bristol Post then added that Rangers and Celtic were both keeping tabs on the talented forward’s situation ahead of possible swoops for him in that window.
It remains unknown as to whether or not the Light Blues officially submitted the £5m offer that was prepared for his services but both Rangers and the Hoops were ultimately blown out of the water by Bournemouth.
The Premier League side showed their financial muscle with an offer of £9m plus an extra £1.5m in potential add-ons to land the 23-year-old star, despite him being available on a free transfer later that year.
One that got away
The transfers that nearly happened but never did. This article is part of Football FanCast's One That Got Away series.
Rangers may now regret not moving quicker to seal a deal for the Ghana international as his form for the Cherries since then suggests that he is one that got away.
Antoine Semenyo's current market value
At the time of writing (07/10/2024), Transfermarkt has his current market value at a whopping €20m (£16.7m) and that is significantly more than £5m the Gers were willing to pay for him, and more than the £9m that Bournemouth initially paid for the attacker.
Like Cantwell, Semenyo is a versatile forward who is comfortable playing on either flank or through the middle, and could have been signed by Beale to play on the left ahead of the Englishman.
The Bristol City star had scored six goals in the Championship during the first half of the 2022/23 campaign and did not hit the ground running in the Premier League, with one goal in 11 outings for the Cherries.
However, the 24-year-old dynamo, who was described as “powerful” by Lewis Cook, hit his stride in his first full season with Bournemouth and contributed with eight goals and two assists in 25 starts in the top-flight on the wing.
This means that he scored more goals in a Premier League season than Cantwell ever managed in one Premiership term with the Light Blues.
Appearances
7
Sofascore rating
7.30
xG
2.33
Goals
3
Big chances created
2
Assists
1
As you can see in the table above, Semenyo has also enjoyed a superb start to the current league season with Bournemouth, scoring three goals and creating two ‘big chances’ in just seven appearances.
The 24-year-old winger has proven himself to be more than capable in the English top-flight and that has resulted in his Transfermarkt value soaring up to £17m since his move from Bristol City at the start of last year.
Whereas, Cantwell’s value dropped by £1m during his 18 months at Ibrox and this suggests that Semenyo is one that got away for the Gers and Beale, as they missed out on a Premier League star in the making.
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