Two Rangers Icons Tip Makhanya For Stardom
Rangers icons Alan Hutton and Kevin Kyle have tipped Olwethu Makhanya for stardom, with Hutton warning that bigger clubs could look to poach him. (Photo: Gallo)
Two Rangers icons — Alan Hutton and Kevin Kyle — have showered Olwethu Makhanya with praise, tipping the South African for stardom while Hutton expressed fears of the defender being pinched by a bigger club.
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The centre-back has drawn praise from other former players in Scotland, with Andy Halliday describing him as a Rolls Royce defender, Scottish Premiership journalist Andy Newport calling him a “proper classy operator,” and Rangers legend Richard Gough describing his performance in the 3-0 victory over Celtic as outstanding.
So far this season, the former Philadelphia Union star has made 10 appearances for Rangers across all competitions since the start of the season, with all of them being starts.
Crucially, he has impressed with solid performances at the heart of the Rangers defence since joining the club for a reported £3 million (around R65 million), a price that is quickly starting to look like an absolute bargain.
However, Rangers icon Alan Hutton has expressed fears that the player may be poached, highlighting that this is something supporters would not like to see.
“It’s a real concern that Makhanya is doing so well that somebody might come in and try to pinch him in January, similarly to what happened with Boumsong,” he told the Daily Record, per Glasgow Times.
“Listen, that’s part and parcel of football these days. Rangers talk about the model that they’re trying to build where they bring in players, develop them and move them on for profit.
“Unfortunately for Rangers, the bigger clubs are going to pinch their best players. But the fans here want to see guys like Makhanya long-term. He’s only young himself, so he’ll want to develop too. This is the first stage in that, coming over to Europe and showing what he’s capable of.”
Meanwhile, former Gers striker and BBC pundit Kevin Kyle suggested that should Makhanya move on from the Scottish giants, the club could stand to make a whopping profit.
“Makhanya’s come in, and he’s been outstanding,” he said, per Rangers News. “He could potentially be the kind of next — the kind of signings that Celtic have made and moved on for bigger money.
“He could be that version for Rangers. He’s come into the club and basically been thrown into the deep end straight away.
“I’m not convinced that he was brought in to be a guaranteed starter straight away. Ben Godfrey was obviously the one, along with [Emmanuel] Fernandez.
“What you’ll probably find, I think, over time, it might be Makhanya and Godfrey together.
“Makhanya’s got all the attributes, he can head the ball, he can pass the ball, he’s aggressive in the tackle, he’s quite quick. So for me, over the next lot of weeks, you’ll probably hear people talk more about Makhanya than Fernandez, which might then in turn help Fernandez in a roundabout way because the focus then isn’t on him, and he can maybe relax a little bit.”
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