A former Leeds United player has been criticised following another underwhelming result for his new club.
A number of former Leeds United players have struggled to impress with new clubs after leaving Elland Road in the aftermath of last season’s dramatic Championship title win.
However, one of them has now been criticised and labelled as ‘overrated’ by one pundit following his club’s latest underwhelming result. After joining the Whites on a season-long loan deal last summer, Bournemouth midfielder Joe Rothwell went on to make 39 appearances in all competitions as Daniel Farke’s men secured a return to the Premier League by topping the second tier table. There had been some talk Leeds could look to convert the move into a permanent switch but Rothwell returned to the Cherries before joining Rangers is a cut-price move to become one of new manager Russell Martin’s first summer signings.
In what has been a tough start to life at Ibrox, Rothwell has started all three of Rangers’ opening Premiership games as they have earned draws from a home game with Dundee and away days at Motherwell and St Mirren. He also started the Premier Sports Cup win against Alloa Athletic and has featured in all five of Rangers’ Champions League qualifying fixtures against Panathiniakos, Viktoria Plzen and Club Brugge.
There has been strong criticism of Martin and his summer additions as Rangers already sit six points behind arch rivals Celtic, who appear to be well on their way to another title win even at this early stage in the season. Speaking after Sunday’s draw at St Mirren, former Scotland striker Kris Boyd hit out at the recruitment overseen by Martin and pointed to Rothwell and former Whites target Max Aarons as reasons why they are ‘a million miles away from where they need to be’.
What did Kris Boyd say about Joe Rothwell?
Kris Boyd has urged Rangers to sack manager Philippe Clementplaceholder image
Kris Boyd has urged Rangers to sack manager Philippe Clement | Getty Images
Speaking on Sky Sports live coverage of the game, the former Rangers striker said: “He has brought a few players in, but I think he needs to be very, very careful. He keeps going back to the English market as well, inflated, overrated for me, especially when you go down the leagues.
“There is a long list of Rangers players who have arrived from the Championship or below who have failed here. And I am afraid to say, at this moment in time, Max Aarons and Joe Rothwell seem to be falling more towards the Kieran Dowell, Ben Davies, Todd Cantwell, Tom Lawrence category than what they do with the likes of Connor Goldson and James Tavernier. Right now, Rangers are a million miles away from where they need to be.”
Continue Reading