Rangers struck gold on the “best player” at Ibrox

The PFA Scotland Team of the Year was announced earlier this week and Glasgow Rangers only had one player in the selection for the first time since the 2017/18 campaign.

Rangers had at least two players in the Team of the Year from the 2018/19 to 2024/25 seasons, with John Souttar and Nicolas Raskin making the cut last term.

This year, though, Emmanuel Fernandez is the only representative from Ibrox in the side, which includes five players from Motherwell, who had 15 fewer points on the board at the time of the announcement.

The fact that the Gers only have one player in the Team of the Year in a season that they may go on to win the title pretty much sums up how crazy of a campaign it has been.

Rangers looked miles off the pace when they only won one of Russell Martin’s league matches, and Fernandez’s personal journey illustrates the huge shift in fortunes under Danny Rohl.

How Danny Rohl unearthed a Team of the Year defender for Rangers

When the Light Blues moved to appoint the former Sheffield Wednesday head coach, Fernandez had started one of the first eight Scottish Premiership matches, failing to make the squad or make it off the bench in the other seven.

Rohl, though, started the Nigeria international in his fourth league match in charge, a 2-1 win over Livingston, and has not looked back since then.

Fernandez has started 20 of his 22 appearances in the league for the Scottish giants so far this season, and ranks highly among his fellow central defenders in the division in a host of key defensive metrics.

The former Peterborough United star earned his place in the Team of the Year through consistently dominant defensive performances, but he only did that because Rohl gave him a chance that Martin never did.

Rohl’s willingness to put his faith in the young defender allowed him to develop and thrive at the heart of the Rangers defence, and he deserves immense credit for unearthing the Nigerian colossus’ potential.

The Rangers star who is worth even more than Emmanuel Fernandez

Whilst Fernandez has been superb for the Gers and deserves his place in the PFA Team of the Year, the central defender is not the most valuable player in the squad.

Transfermarkt has his market value at £7.8m at the time of writing. That is the second-highest market value of any permanent Rangers player in the squad, only behind central midfielder Raskin.

The Belgium international, who was dubbed the team’s “best player” by pundit Chris Sutton earlier this season, can count himself unfortunate to have missed out on the Team of the Year, after being included last term.

Raskin ranked highly in a host of key in and out of possession metrics in the Rangers squad this season, which speaks to how influential he has been across the pitch for Rohl.

The Belgian star scored his fifth goal of the league season in the 6-3 win over Falkirk in the Premiership last weekend, taking him to 12 goal contributions in 31 league matches.

Raskin is so valuable to Rangers because he contributes at both ends of the pitch, with tackles and duels won to go along with his goals and assists, and his market value reflects that.

At the time of writing, Transfermarkt has the central midfield star’s market value at £10.4m. This means that he is worth millions more than Fernandez, despite him making the Team of the Year, and millions more than the £1.3m that the club paid Standard Liege for his services in 2023.

Rangers hit the jackpot when they signed the Belgian star from Standard Liege over three years ago because he has emerged as a key player throughout his time at Ibrox, and is now the most valuable player in the squad, excluding loanees.

Hopefully, the Gers can keep hold of him in the summer and continue to enjoy his fine performances in the middle of the park again next season.

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