Transfer Analysis: How this Englishman’s experience can be the key to Rangers’ success in the Scottish Premiership

Rangers have done some great transfer business by bringing in Todd Cantwell to strengthen their midfield positions and add more quality to the middle of the park. Cantwell, who has played in the Premier League with Norwich City, joins the Scottish giants on a permanent deal, with his contract at Carrow Road due to end in the summer. Over the years, the 24-year-old has given some consistent and energetic performances from the midfield but has struggled for game time in recent months. Todd Cantwell can operate in a variety of roles as a versatile central midfielder and has a good ability to move the ball around. Since joining Rangers, he has already made three appearances in the Scottish Premiership and contributed with one assist. With his timely addition, Rangers will hope to build on their current success and mount a title challenge for the Scottish Premiership. Below, we look at some stats for the player from the current season.

Todd Cantwell is a versatile midfielder who can slot into a variety of roles. He can play on either flank and also as an attacking midfielder, or even a little deeper as a centre midfielder. Before joining Rangers, he made 18 appearances for Norwich City in the current EFL Championship season and started in nine matches. The above viz shows the percentile rank of Cantwell’s stats from the Championship compared to other similar players. It can be observed that Cantwell ranks highly in all of the passing indicators. He also ranks highly in terms of his positioning and does decently in contesting defensive duels and expected goal contributions. He has a low rank in the rest of the areas because he has not gotten much playing time this season.

Good passer of the ball

The above viz illustrates the player’s heat map from the EFL Championship 2022/23. It can be observed that Cantwell shows high intensity in the final third as well as in the midfield. He covers the ground equally in the opposition’s half and his own half, particularly on the left side, where he mostly played for Norwich. Cantwell averages 39 passes per match with 82.3% accuracy, along with 29.32 received passes. He also averages 1.95 touches in the opposition’s penalty area and makes 1.68 progressive runs per match. As for goal attempts, Cantwell currently takes 1.21 shots per match, with 38.5% of them landing on target.

The 24-year-old Englishman stands out for his ability to pass the ball around and circulate possession. His stats in the passing department have been great, and this is one reason why Rangers brought him in. In the Championship, Cantwell averaged 3.63 passes to the final third (64.1% accuracy) and 3.16 passes to the opposition penalty box (58.8% accuracy) per 90 minutes. The pass map above shows that most of the passes were sideways, but they become more progressive as he reaches the opposition’s half. Meanwhile, his passing accuracy rate indicates that the player is calm and composed before delivering any pass. 

As Cantwell has also played in wide positions, he possesses some key qualities of a winger, which include dribbling and crossing ability. The above viz shows the winger actions performed by the player this season. He attempts most of his dribbles in the final third and breaches the opponent’s penalty area with great success. He also sends in a decent amount of crosses into the box from either flank. Cantwell averages as many as 1.58 dribbles per match with a high success rate of 76.5% and delivers 1.68 crosses with a 33.3% success rate.

Best performance in the Premier League

Todd Cantwell achieved his best goal-scoring figures during the 2019–20 Premier League season with Norwich City. He reached the figure of six league goals from a total xG value of 6.14. As seen in the viz above, he scored all his goals from inside the penalty area including a couple from inside the six-yard box. Most of his shots came from inside the box, but he also had quite a few efforts from distance. He scored at the rate of 0.2 goals per game with a similar xG rate per 90. Additionally, he averaged 1.36 shots per match with 40% accuracy.

In addition to his respectable goal-scoring records that season, Cantwell also provided two assists for his teammates, with a total xA tally of 1.86. The shot assist viz above show that these assist attempts came through progressive passes and short layoffs. The Englishman averaged 0.07 assists per match while averaging a similar xA value per 90. He created two big chances while averaging almost one shot assist per match.

Todd Cantwell has been signed by the Rangers in order to add more depth, talent, and quality to the team. The 24-year-old is a promising player and has amassed a great deal of experience playing in the Premier League and the Championship. He offers a threat while going forward and also contributes with his creative and accurate passing. The move to Rangers could also help the Englishman personally by providing him with a platform to relaunch his promising career.