'What's happening?' - Sky Sports pundit worried by what he's seen around '£5m man' at Rangers

Danilo’s mysterious start to the season for Rangers has left Kris Boyd concerned after the striker’s first start to the season.

The Sky Sports pundit reacted on the Scottish Sun’s YouTube channel on 19 August after the Brazilian was replaced at half-time of the 2-0 League Cup win over St Johnstone two days earlier, expressing his bemusement at how far off his best the former big-money signing still looks.

Danilo had his debut season wrecked by injury last term after arriving from Feyenoord and Philippe Clement had to deny rumours that he was still hurt after a clip of him limping ahead of the Dynamo Kyiv match was deleted from social media by the club [Heart & Hand, 13 August].

Boyd said (5m 30s): “Winning games of football covers up everything because everybody leaves the stadium happy and you don’t really dissect everything that’s gone on.

“You’ve won the game of football. There’s loads of improvement still to come from Rangers. A cup tie, you get through it, it’s another 90 minutes under the belt for some.

“But I spoke about it last week in terms of sports science, and Philippe Clement is leaning heavily on it, but [the] £5million man Danilo again, what’s happening with him?”

Cyriel Dessers replaced Danilo in Rangers win

The striker position has gone from an area of anticipation this summer to a key concern for fans as the situation doesn’t look to have improved since last term.

Cyriel Dessers is still the main man and doing what he did last season amid a lack of alternatives – scoring goals and facing criticism anyway.

Hamza Igamane was brought in earlier this summer but has only recently been deemed ready for group training let alone contributing on the pitch, while there appears to be no scope to sign a senior option as bids have not come in for Dessers [Rangers Review, 7 August].

A potential bid for Lawrence Shankland was under discussion ahead of the opener against Hearts [Daily Record, 29 July] but has gone quiet amid a logjam at Ibrox in the transfer market.

Danilo’s return from injury was expected to be a crucial component of whatever improvements were made at the club this summer, with Boyd himself tipping him to have a major impact [Scottish Sun, 5 July].

But after an anonymous first involvement of the season he doesn’t look close to full fitness, as Ibrox News pundit Derek Ferguson predicted, and if the club are trying to avoid drawing attention to that fact they’ve only created more doubts.

In other Rangers news, a vital arrival at Ibrox has provided some much-needed good news for the Light Blues.

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