Summary Rangers manager Michael Beale has signed ten players since taking over in November 2022, spending €16.2m in the process. Todd Cantwell, signed for a bargain fee of £1.5m, has already seen his market value increase by 87% to £2.8m. Cantwell's performances for Rangers have been impressive, scoring six goals and registering five assists in just 20 games, establishing himself as one of the team's finest players.
Glasgow Rangers manager Michael Beale has signed a total of ten players on permanent deals since taking over from Giovanni van Bronckhorst back in November 2022.
Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin arrived during the January transfer window, while this summer has seen a mass clear out of players from the first team squad.
Club stalwarts such as Allan McGregor, Ryan Kent, Scott Arfield and Alfredo Morelos all departed the Ibrox side following the expiration of their contracts, while Beale managed to lure eight players to Glasgow, spending a total of €16.2m (£13.9m) in the process.
Having failed to win a trophy during the 2022/23 season, losing out to Celtic for the Premiership title for the second year in a row, it’s clear that the 43-year-old will need to work his magic this term in order to claim glory of some sort.
With Europa League football guaranteed up to Christmas, the club will be playing twice a week over the next few months and this will mean Beale has to utilise his squad well.
Some of his signings have yet to settle while others have hit the ground running, but its evident that the Light Blues have struck gold on a midfielder who looks like he will continue to get better in the coming months.
How much did Rangers sign Todd Cantwell for?
Having enjoyed a good start to his Gers managerial career, Beale saw the January window as a chance to bring in a few players who could potentially make an instant impact at the club while helping to narrow the gap to Celtic.
Raskin was a player the club had been tracking for a while and he arrived from Standard Liege on deadline day, yet it was a move for Cantwell which turned out to be a wonderful piece of business.
When he was at Norwich City in the summer of 2021, Aston Villa were showing interest in the Englishman and the Championship side valued Cantwell at a staggering £40m.
His former youth coach Gary Cockaday previously lauded him when discussing his talents, saying: “At one point, two of them had Todd up against the line and you could see them thinking, ‘Gotcha!’
“Todd looked at one of them in the eye, put his toe under the ball, flicked it back over his head, turned and he was gone. All without looking at the ball.
“He did things every week that were just special. It was God-given. No one taught it. I always believed if you had someone like that, don’t change them or make them conform.”
Just 18 months later, following a run of poor form at Norwich, the Light Blues managed to secure his signature for a bargain fee of £1.5m and this has already represented a wonderful bargain.
What is Todd Cantwell’s market value now?
Having been at the club for nine months, Cantwell has already seen his market value increase due to several impressive performances.
According to Football transfers, the midfielder is now currently valued at €3.3m (£2.8m) and this represents a rise of 87% from the £1.5m that the club spent on him at the start of the year.
There is no doubt this value could still rise and Beale has hit the jackpot on the former Norwich starlet.
Why is Todd Cantwell worth this?
During the first half of the 2022/23 season, the 25-year-old played 19 times for the second tier side, yet failed to score or assist, and his performances weren’t up to the required standard.
It looked as though a fresh start was the best thing for him in order to rediscover the form which had led him to be valued at £40m and win two Championship titles with the club, even netting six goals in the Premier League across just 45 appearances.
The move to the Gers came at precisely the right time, and he hasn’t looked back since moving North of the border.
Across 20 games for the club, Cantwell scored six goals and registered five assists, emerging as one of their finest players after the festive period, made even more remarkable considering he had just joined the team.
Indeed, he finished the season ranked third across the squad for overall Sofascore rating, while also ranking sixth for big chances created, eighth for key passes per game and fourth for successful dribbles per game, demonstrating his attacking talents right from the word go.
His performances got better as the season went on, and his defining display came against Celtic during the final Old Firm clash of the season at Ibrox in May.
The 5 foot 10 starlet netted his first derby goal while making three interceptions, three tackles and having two shots on target throughout as he proved to be a general nuisance to the Celtic defence.
Journalist Josh Bunting was full of praise for him during the match, saying: “Todd Cantwell outstanding in that first half for Rangers, turning out and away from tight spaces very neatly indeed and controlling the game in the middle of the park. Rangers the intensity has been so high and Celtic have been poor slow and ineffective which is very rare.”
The midfielder has yet to continue his rich vein of form from the end of last term into the current campaign, grabbing just one assist over nine games in all competitions.
The season is still young however and Beale has yet to find the system which will work best with the current players at his disposal.
Cantwell has thus played in four positions already during these games, yet to find a settled spot from which to express his creative talents.
There is no doubt signing the Englishman has been a stroke of genius by the manager however and considering how effective he was during his first six months means that as time goes on, he will just keep getting better and better.
The international break has arrived at just the right time for the club as they have endured a poor start to the 2023/23 campaign, yet the rest will hopefully do them the world of good and will give Cantwell the chance to come backfiring.