Scouted: How does Igamane compare to Dessers, Shankland and Miovski?

All football recruitment is a gamble. A player’s unprecedented success or abject failure is entirely subjective and utterly different from club to club. You only need to look at Toni Kroos as a pertinent example of how differently elite clubs can value even the best players in the world. Classed by Bayern Munich as no longer of the requisite value and importance to the team, he was allowed to join Real Madrid 10 years ago. The rest is quite literally history.

There are countless examples of players making hugely significant contributions at one club and then not quite hitting the heights at another. So many factors are involved in whether players are judged as good or a disaster, and there is rarely a middle ground.

Frank Edoho will tell you how to become a millionaire

Frank Edoho will tell you how to become a millionaire

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Some clubs’ ethos is focused solely on developing young or undervalued players for profit and claiming a mid-table finish in a strong league. Throw in a cup run or group stages in Europe; their fans will generally be happy. Whilst playing at a high level, the pressure to perform in every game and fight for every point isn’t the same as that of clubs who are expected to win every game they play.

At clubs with a long history of winning – let’s use Rangers as an example – all recruitment is viewed through a single lens. Did we win the league, get to the finals of both cups and give a decent account of ourselves in Europe? If the answer to more than one of those is no – then more often than not, a manager loses their job. Also, most players who sign will be denounced as not good enough and/or a total waste of money.