Well, let's encourage a round of applause for our formidable Dutch midfielder, Neraysho Kasanwirjo. Born on a cold February day back in 2002, the fellow has now been prancing about on the football pitch for 23 solid years. He graces Netherlands with his birthplace as well as his early football career, the lad does, and you'd be hard pressed to find a more Dutch bone in his body.
He's a brick wall on the field, if you consider a 6ft (1.85m) tall, 11st 13lb (76kg) brick wall wearing a number 24 jersey as your common day-to-day boundary. A sturdy force now presenting his grand talents as a central defender for Rangers, a club located in a parallel universe where one doesn't typically hold any Celtic affection. Would it astonish you to learn he has also adorned the colours of the Netherlands U21 national team? I thought not.
The bloke allegedly has a market value of about £1.5million, if you're willing to put stock in Transfermarkt and their dubious calculators. His contract with Rangers is slipping through the sands of time faster than a half-time pie at Parkhead, with just 4 months left before it bites the dust on the 30th of June, 2025.
Recognising a humble starting point, Kasanwirjo got his boots dirty at Jong Ajax in the Eerste Divisie in Netherlands as a trainee way back in the ancient history of 2011. By the 2019 - 2020 season, he finally crawled his way up to make an appearance in four first team league matches.
He then made a somewhat exciting change of scenery, transferring from Jong Ajax to FC Groningen in the Eredivisie by July 2021. Considering the dramatic highlands of Scotland to the pancake-flat pastures of the Netherlands, it's safe to say he swallowed the bitter pill of change rather well.
By January 2023, the young lad hopped clubs yet again, this time to Feyenoord. The Eredivisie side caught him for a measly £1.5m before sending him out on loan to Austria's Rapid Vienna. His Feyenoord experience was short-lived, but no less sweet, gracing five league matches before embarking on his Austrian adventure.
After a brief spell in Austria, where he appeared in 23 league matches, Kasanwirjo returned to Feyenoord. But, well, the glitter of the Dutch league didn’t quite satisfy, and by August 2024 he was up sticks and across to Rangers in the Scottish Premiership – on loan, of course.
Presently, he's poking about under the rain-ladened Scottish skies, sporting the blue jersey of a team which happens to play in the same city as a certain other club of magnificent history and laurels. A club who, dare I say, puts an entirely new spin on the colour green...
