The Light Blues were reportedly interested in a deal to sign the impressive youngster.
Head coach Philippe Clement of Glasgow Rangers and head of recruiting Nils Koppen added three players to the first team roster during the productive January transfer window.
To increase the Belgian head coach’s options throughout the pitch, he signed initial loan deals with Mohammed Diomande, Oscar Cortes, and Fabio Silva.
Before getting hurt, Cortes scored one goal and provided two assists, Diomande had already scored two goals and one assist, and Silva had scored four goals.
Clement will now be hoping that they continue to fire in goals and assists to help the Scottish giants to secure more silverware before the end of the season, which could result in them being viewed as successful signings.
Whilst it is easy to look at signings as successes and failures over the years, you can also look at players the club wanted to sign but failed to, and wonder what could have been.
Rangers’ interest in Xavi Simons
TEAMtalk reported in December 2021 that Rangers were one of a number of clubs interested in a deal to sign attacking midfielder Xavi Simons from French giants Paris Saint-Germain.
His contract with the Ligue 1 side was due to expire at the end of the season and the Light Blues were seemingly looking to snap him up on a free transfer in the summer.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst – the Gers manager at the time – was ‘well aware’ of the young whiz due to his connections in the Netherlands, which could have given them an edge over their rivals outside of Holland in negotiations, had it got to that stage.
Netherlands international Simons signed for Dutch club PSV on a five-year deal, negotiating a buy-back clause as part of their compensation. Simons impressed with 22 goals and 12 assists in 48 appearances in all competitions.
In the Champions League play-off tie against Rangers, he played 45 minutes but scored 19 goals, eight assists, and 11 ‘big chances’ in 34 appearances. Rangers now wish they had signed Simons under van Bronckhorst in 2022, as his value has soared, surpassing first-team star Todd Cantwell. Simons’s impressive performance has made Rangers wish they had signed him under van Bronckhorst in 2022.
Todd Cantwell’s current market valuation
The English attacking midfielder’s Expected Transfer Value (xTV), as of this writing (13/03/2024), is €4.2m (£3.6m), precisely the same amount that Simons had in May 2022 before to his transfer to PSV.
At the beginning of the season, Michael Beale made a move to permanently sign the mercurial talent from Norwich City, an English Championship team. For the Scottish giants, he has been an excellent finish-third player.
In his two seasons with the team thus far, Cantwell has proven to be a quality goal scorer and goal creator for the Light Blues, as the table below illustrates.
| Todd Cantwell | ||
|---|---|---|
| Premiership | 22/23 | 23/24 |
| Appearances | 16 | 22 |
| Goals | 6 | 5 |
| Assists | 4 | 3 |
| Big chances created | 5 | 4 |
| Key passes per game | 1.3 | 1.6 |
| Stats via Sofascore | ||
The 26-year-old playmaker has directly contributed with 11 goals and seven assists in 38 Scottish Premiership matches for the Light Blues, which shows that he has the ability to be a difference-maker for the team in the final third.
At the age of 26, Cantwell also has plenty of years left ahead of him to develop and improve as a player to increase his output at the top end of the pitch even further.
Whilst, in isolation, the former Norwich star has been a successful, and impressive, signing by Rangers, some may look at Simons and wonder what could have been had van Bronckhorst snapped him up six months before the Gers signed Cantwell.
Xavi Simons’ current market value
The Dutch international’s current xTV, as of writing (13/03/2024), is an incredible €43.1m (£36.8m). This puts him much beyond the current Light Blues offensive midfielder’s worth of £3.6m.
After being temporarily shipped to Germany by PSG last summer, he was re-signed and his market value skyrocketed along with his incredible performances for PSV last season and this season on loan with RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga.
The 20-year-old dynamo has been playing for Leipzig in great form during the 2023–2024 season, and his numbers right now indicate that he would be a significant improvement over Cantwell.
| 23/24 league season | Xavi Simons | Todd Cantwell |
|---|---|---|
| Appearances | 24 | 22 |
| Goals | 6 | 5 |
| Assists | 8 | 3 |
| Big chances created | 10 | 4 |
| Key passes per game | 2.4 | 1.6 |
| Stats via Sofascore | ||
As you can see in the table above, Simons has outperformed the Rangers star in a number of key attacking statistics, whilst playing in one of Europe’s major leagues, with far more key passes, big chances created, and assists, in only two more appearances.
The Leipzig loanee has also showcased his quality in the Champions League this term with a return of two goals, two assists, and three ‘big chances’ created in eight outings in the competition. This shows that he has the ability to compete and play at the highest level.
These statistics show why Simons’ value has skyrocketed since Rangers failed to sign him under van Bronckhorst, as the talented whiz has excelled in the Netherlands and Germany over the last two seasons.
He has scored and assisted goals at an exceptional rate as an attacking midfielder and is currently worth more than any player within the Gers squad – including Cantwell – at this time.
This suggests that the Glasgow giants had a howler when they were unable to convince the talented dynamo to make the move to Ibrox back in the summer of 2022, when he left PSG, as they must now wish that they had snapped him up.
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