Rafael Fernandes stuck in Rangers cold storage as Lille logic for permanent transfer trigger hints at reason
The club's only January signing has rarely been seen on the pitch since penning a loan switch from the Ligue 1 side
Ruthless Barry Ferguson hauled off Clinton Nsiala just 30 minutes into Rangers’ clash with Kilmarnock.
With Ridvan Yilmaz coming off the bench to replace the struggling defender, the club's only January recruit Rafael Fernandes remaining on the bench. The 22-year-old centre-back has failed to make an impact since his loan switch from Lille - managing just three appearances. His only start came during the Scottish Cup humiliation at the hands of Queen's Park - when then-boss Philippe Clement hauled the Portugal youth cap off after 60 minutes.
He's just in the door but Ferguson doesn't appear to have much faith in Fernandes so far - opting to deploy captain James Tavernier at the heart of the Light Blues' defence after Nsiala's miserable showing at Rugby Park, with Yilmaz shifting to right-back. When Fernandes made his loan move to Glasgow, Rangers had reportedly seen off interest in the defender from Germany, Spain and elsewhere in France to land star - and hold an option to buy in the deal.
Clement heralded the arrival of Fernandes - while admitting he would not rush him into the first-team picture after he signed. He said: "We believe in his potential. He’s not somebody who will be directly ready. He played almost nothing in the last year.
”But the scouting team saw him play the year before in Portugal. I saw also several games of that. He’s showing several attributes. He’s fast, he can do good passing, he’s powerful, he’s young and athletic. We get good information in Lille also with players who were training with him."
But for Fernandes, he insisted that the most important thing for him was ramping up his game time in the Scottish Premiership: “The first interaction was really good, the players made me comfortable and asked me about the small things. I really liked the first interaction with them. For me, the most important thing now is to get on the pitch and start to play football again and I am really looking forward to it.”
But Clement stuck with Robin Propper and Nsiala in his backline - with John Souttar briefly getting a run out after returning from injury - rather than play a man who moved to Lille from Arouca for £2.5m last summer. In fact, Fernandes was not even given a nod in the Europa League squad.
The Belgian explained: "Rafa Fernandes understood why he wasn't in the European squad. He still has a lot of games to play in the league and the cup - he still has time to grow and develop as he is a young player."
However, that has not come to pass - and the reason could becoming clear for his lack of minutes with Lille already making it clear they expect him to return at the end of the campaign, despite Rangers holding an option to buy. Lille president Olivier Letang insists that he is still a player who the club believe will be a success in France, telling L'Equipe: “Rafael was injured a lot. I have a lot of respect for the club he was at [Arouca], but the intensity and the work process were probably not the same and he was injured a lot.
"He needed playing time, but he is someone we believe in. For those who looked at the reserve team, they were able to see that Rafael Fernandes was way above the rest."
And Letang appeared to play down the prospect of the purchase option being picked up - noting that the only reason it was included was get the deal with Rangers over the line: “In the discussions, a straight loan was not an option, otherwise the club would have been less inclined to sign him. It was really fundamental that they have playing time, so we preferred to make this choice so that they can play.”
So, if the Ligue 1 side are expecting Rangers to snub their option to buy and Fernandes to return in January, will Ferguson give him a chance or stick with Nsiala and Propper? Time will tell - but the defender is rapidly running out of games to earn a long-term stay in Glasgow.