Show us the Money

Rangers
By Michael Grant

THE questions about a possible move to Anderlecht came in several guises, and from various angles, but Thomas Buffel consistently provided the answer most Rangers fans wanted to hear as he sat with reporters ahead of today’s match at Tynecastle. He was not interested in leaving Ibrox to play for the leading club in Belgium, his home country.

Agents representing the 25-year-old – two of them, no less – had intimated that Anderlecht would not be able to afford his transfer fee or £16,000-a-week wage, but Buffel spoke for the first time to provide first-hand reassurance that he remains happily committed to a contract which still has three years to run.

Buffel’s inconsistency and occasional tendency to drift in and out of games are factors Rangers can tolerate given the guile, intelligence and technique he is capable of adding to the side, and there is an impression of more to come from him when he plays more regularly as deep striker in a settled, confident side. Anderlecht’s admiration became apparent last week, but it is not mutual.

“Every interest is flattering; it means you must be playing well,” said Buffel. “I don’t know whether the next manager [Paul le Guen] will see me as part of his plans, but I just have to concentrate on the rest of this season. The Champions League is important so that we qualify again and have another nice season with some nice games again.

“I am settled in Scotland. I think it’s a good sign that my first year went by so quickly. You sense it taking ages when things are not going well but in Scotland it has not been like that; every training session and game has been good. I think I have settled down.”

It had been suggested that by selling the highly rated central defender Vincent Kompany for £8 million – Arsenal, Chelsea and Seville have all been linked with the 19-year-old – Anderlecht would generate the funds to refurbish their team, with Buffel identified as their preferred replacement for Swedish midfielder Par Zetterberg, who will retire at the end of the season.

“You would have to ask them,” said Buffel. “First the club have to go to the [Rangers] board and see what the board wants to do. If you play well maybe other clubs are interested, but you just have to do your job on the pitch. I am under contract and love playing for Rangers at the moment. I can’t do anything about speculation.”

Buffel left his own country aged 16 to sign for Feyen oord. “You don’t know how life is going to treat you so you have to see what comes into your path and make good decisions. I made a good decision at 16 to leave Belgium and go to Feyenoord. Going to Rangers was another good decision for me.

“Sometimes it’s about a feeling and what you are comfortable with. I loved playing for Feyenoord and I had a similar feeling about Rangers. Feyenoord get about 50,000 fans at a game as well. They are both clubs for the people.”

He will hope to avoid another sim ilarity, though. Buffel emerged under the management of Leo Beenhakker and Bert van Marwijk at Feyenoord but when the latter was replaced by Ruud Gullit he quickly found himself warming the bench, precipitating his move to Rangers for £2.3 million 14 months ago.

Although it seems unlikely, perhaps le Guen will arrive at Ibrox and feel he, too, can do without Buffel. “ I played very well for two years at Feyenoord and then a new coach came in. I hadn’t accepted a new contract offer in the summer and one game later I was on the bench. I don’t have problems with Gullit. That’s football and some dec isions go against you, but that doesn’t mean you are a bad footballer. You have to be mentally strong and carry on.

“Every week you try to prove yourself in football. Sometimes other managers can see things differently.

“A lot of things are not in your own hands.”

Taken from the Sunday Herald