The work done by Glasgow Rangers during the summer transfer window has come under plenty of scrutiny after a fairly dismal start to the season for the Scottish giants.
One win in the first seven games of the Scottish Premiership campaign led to head coach Russell Martin losing his job, having only been appointed in the summer as the long-term successor to Philippe Clement.
Danny Rohl arrived at Ibrox last month and has already delivered four wins from four matches in the Premiership, but he has also lost both of his Europa League games in the dugout.
The former Sheffield Wednesday tactician has won 100% of his league games in charge, most recently beating Livingston 2-1 at Ibrox thanks to goals from Emmanuel Fernandez and Mohamed Diomande.
Despite this upturn in results in the league, there will still be question marks over the summer recruitment due to poor form on the European stage from the Light Blues under both Martin and Rohl.
Who were the worst signings of the summer window by sporting director Kevin Thelwell before he was dismissed from his role on Monday? Here are our worst three…
3 Youssef Chermiti
It is almost impossible not to mention Youssef Chermiti as being among the worst signings made by Thelwell when you consider the context of the signing and the fee that was paid for him.
Firstly, Rangers had already signed proven Premiership goalscorer Bojan Miovski from Girona for a fee of up to £4.2m, which suggested that Martin already had his first-choice striker in the building.
Secondly, Chermiti cost a staggering £8m to sign him from Everton. That made him the most expensive Rangers signing in 25 years, since the £12m that was spent to land Tore Andre Flo in 2000.
Paying £8m to sign a 21-year-old striker who failed to score a single competitive goal in two years at Goodison Park is bad enough on paper, but even worse when you consider that Thelwell was the man behind the £15m deal to take him from Sporting to Everton in 2023.
The Toffees had to take a £7m hit on the striker without getting a single goal out of him because of Thelwell’s investment, and now Rangers look set to suffer a similar fate if his fortunes do not improve.
Chermiti has scored one goal and provided one assist in 13 outings in all competitions for the Light Blues this season, per Sofascore, which shows that he has already offered more than he did for Everton, but it is still not enough to justify the huge outlay.
Starts
4
xG
1.29
Goals
0
Big chances missed
4
Big chances created
0
Assists
0
Pass accuracy
59%
Duel success rate
35%
As you can see in the table above, he has particularly struggled in the Europa League this season, failing to offer quality in front of goal, in his general play, or physically, which is a big concern.
For the amount of money paid, the signing of Miovski made before his arrival, and how he failed when Thelwell signed him for Everton, he has to be among the ex-Gers man’s worst deals.
2 Joe Rothwell
Joe Rothwell also currently looks like one of the worst signings of the summer transfer window, in a move that was very different to the one that brought Chermiti to Ibrox.
Whilst the Portugal U21 international was signed for big money as a 21-year-old talent with room for improvement and potential to eventually hit, the English midfielder came in as an experienced 30-year-old operator who should have made an immediate impact.
Instead, the summer signing from Bournemouth has failed to hit the ground running at Ibrox and now looks to be out of favour under new head coach Rohl, after being brought in by Martin, whom he played for at Southampton in the 2023/24 campaign.
Livingston
0
Celtic
18
Hibernian
0
Kilmarnock
0
Brann
64
Dundee United
83
Falkirk
70
Sturm Graz
21
Livingston
17
Genk
10
As you can see in the table above, the Englishman has become a bit-part player for the Gers, failing to get on the pitch in the three league games that he has been available for under Rohl.
Given he was brought in as an experienced player for the here and now, it is hard to look past him as another one of Thelwell’s worst summer signings.
1 Thelo Aasgaard
Thelo Aasgaard looks to be another one of Thelwell’s worst pieces of business from the summer transfer window, as he has been as ineffective as Chermiti and Rothwell.
Rangers swooped to sign the Norway international from Luton Town for a fee of £3.5m to bolster their ranks in the attacking midfield positions, but he has been unable to provide a regular threat at the top end of the park.
Per Transfermarkt, Aasgaard has only produced one goal and one assist in 19 appearances in all competitions for the Light Blues, whilst Chermiti has one goal and one assist to his name in 13 outings for the club.
What makes that return even less impressive is that his assist was the pass to Djeidi Gassama in the clip above, where the winger does the majority of the heavy lifting for the goal.
The English-born number ten has not shown enough quality in his performances to suggest that he can be a difference-maker, aside from his stunning solo goal against Dundee United, which currently looks like it was a flash in the pan.
Heart & Hand content creator David Edgar described Aasgaard as “rotten” at the start of this month, and it is hard to disagree with that when he has many red cards as goals this season.
Aasgaard’s red card against Celtic in the semi-final of the League Cup is far from the only poor moment he has had in a Gers shirt, though, as the £3.5m signing was also hauled off at half-time against Livingston last weekend.
Rohl was clearly unhappy with his contributions in the opening 45 minutes, and it is hard to be happy with his contributions over the entire season so far, which is why he has been just as bad as Chermiti and Rothwell.
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