David Edgar, Dave Marshall and Colin McMillan discussed all things Rangers on the latest edition of the Heart and Hand podcast, where the panel spent some time talking about Gers defender Filip Helander.
Helander moved to Ibrox from Italian side Bologna in July 2019 for a transfer fee of £3.51m. According to Transfermarkt, the centre-back was Rangers’ second-most expensive signing of the 2019/20 season, behind only Ryan Kent, who joined the Gers from Liverpool for a fee of £6.48m.
It may be fair to say that Helander didn’t enjoy a very positive first season with the Glasgow-based club, as he managed to make just eight league appearances before a foot injury ruled him out from December until the end of the 2019/20 Scottish Premiership campaign.
So far this season, Helander has appeared in four of the Gers’ six Premiership games, starting three of them and according to WhoScored, the Swede has performed well in those games, as he has earned an average overall rating of 7.69 from his four league appearances this term, which is the third-highest average overall rating that any Rangers player has earned in the league so far this season.
This may indicate that the 27-year-old defender has been enjoying a positive start to the 2020/21 season and during this recent edition of the Heart and Hand podcast, McMillan was full of praise for Helander due to his recent performances, saying: “[Helander] was one person, last season, coming off his injury, I wasn’t completely convinced on.
“I wasn’t sure we’d spent the right sort of money on him, I didn’t quite understand the signing because I was a big [Nikola] Katic fan, but he’s proving me wrong every time he plays at the moment.”
Have you been impressed by Helander's recent performances?
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So, judging by these comments, it appears as though Helander’s transfer fee and his injury last season had a negative impact on McMillan’s opinion of the defender, however, his view is changing as a result of the Swede’s recent performances.
Hopefully, for the Gers, Helander can kick on from here and put his injury issues behind him in order to justify the £3.51m that the club spent to sign him.