Norwich City's Todd Cantwell is reportedly on Michael Beale's 'wish list' as Rangers look to make some additions to their squad this month.
With the January transfer window well underway, Beale has revealed he's spoken to 'two or three' possible transfer targets as Rangers look to continue their pursuit of Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership. The former England Under-21 star is one of those names who has been strongly linked with it being reported that he has said his farewells at Carrow Road with a fee and deal in place for a switch north of the border.
One of England's most exciting talents when he scored six goals in the English Premier League at just 21-years-old, Cantwell has dropped down the pecking order in recent months at Norwich, with the midfielder struggling for form with the Canaries. Cantwell's contract runs out in the summer, and the Englishman could be targeted on a pre-contract agreement by the Light Blues.
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So, if Rangers were to sign Cantwell from Norwich this month, how could the 24-year-old perform in Scotland? We simulated the rest of the season to try and find out.
We 'signed' Todd Cantwell for Rangers as a January transfer
To set up this simulation, we used the Football Manager 2023 editor to arrange for Cantwell to make the move to Glasgow this month, using FM23 to run the simulation. We then simulated the remainder of the 2022/23 season to see what sort of impact the Englishman could have at the Ibrox.
Cantwell was used frequently by Beale, quickly becoming a regular for Rangers during his first few months at the club. In total, the midfielder made 23 appearances for the Light Blues in all competitions.
20 of those appearances were starts with only three off the bench, with 18 of them coming in the Scottish Premiership and five in the Scottish Cup. Cantwell scored six goals and managed two assists in that time, whilst averaging a rating of 7.22 per game.
Four goals and two assists came in the Scottish Premiership, but his expected assists was 6.67 across all competitions, showing how the 24-year-old created more big chances that should've been scored by his team-mates. Compared to the rest of the Rangers squad, Cantwell averaged the third-best average rating in the entire squad.
Defensive duo Connor Goldson and James Tavernier averaged the best ratings , whilst Cantwell had the best rating out of all the Rangers attackers. Antonio Colak was the Gers' top scorer during the simulation with 12 goals, whilst Glen Kamara tallied the most assists.
At the end of the 2022/23 season, Football Manager 2023 put together an overall best Rangers XI, based on performances, statistics and other metrics. This is what it looked like:
Full Rangers best XI: (3-4-2-1): McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Davies, Barasic; Kamara, Jack, Lundstram; Kent, Colak, Cantwell.
In order to fit Cantwell into his system, Beale moved Ryan Kent over to the right of the front three with Cantwell starting on the left. Colak started ahead of Alfredo Morelos in the striker position, whilst Kamara, Ryan Jack and John Lundstram occupied the three midfield roles.
Rangers' results with Cantwell
After Cantwell's arrival, the Gers went on a good run of form, closing the gap between themselves and Celtic to just four points with momentum on their side. But, a sudden run of bad results towards the end of the season opened up the gap even more than before, and Rangers ended the season in second place.
The poor run at the end of the season along with Celtic rediscovering their best form meant the gap opened up to 15 points, with the Hoops ending the season on 90 and Rangers on 75. One win in their last seven saw the Hoops pull away to claim the league title.
The two meetings between Rangers and Celtic after Cantwell's arrival ended 3-0 to Celtic and 2-2 in the clash at the Ibrox, with the Hoops losing just once all season. The two sides also met in both cup finals, with Beale's side winning one.
After a 1-1 draw in normal time, a dramatic extra-time saw Rangers beat Celtic 3-2 in the Scottish Cup final, with Cantwell getting on the scoresheet. Both sides also met in the Premier Sports Cup final, with two early goals from Kyogo Furuhashi securing a 2-0 win for Celtic.
Overall, FM23 predicts that Cantwell could rediscover his best form with a move to Rangers, with the Englishman becoming one of the best-performing players under Beale and helping the Gers lift a trophy. His short-term impact in Glasgow was impressive, but we've seen how Cantwell can dip in and out of form with Norwich, so it could be intriguing to see how the 24-year-old could perform over the course of a full season.
Do you think Cantwell would be a good fit at Rangers? Let us know below!
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