Glasgow Rangers’ recent history in the transfer market hasn’t exactly been a success story. Of course, there have been a few players who have arrived at Ibrox that have made their mark such as Ryan Jack, Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent and Joe Aribo, yet these are few and far between.

Since the club's promotion back to the Premiership in 2016, the Light Blues went through three managers and numerous failed transfers in order to try and end the recent dominance of Celtic, yet neither Mark Warburton, Graeme Murty (twice) nor Pedro Caixinha could stop the juggernaut.

Signing flops such as Dalcio, Umar Sadiq, Carlos Pena and Fabio Cardoso was arguably Caixinha’s downfall, and he endured European humiliation along with domestic struggles.

His failed transfers moved on and ended up in the wilderness, however, perhaps Cardoso should have been given more of a chance, especially considering his resurgence upon leaving the light Blues in 2018.

How much is Fabio Cardoso worth now?

Not long after his arrival in Glasgow, Caixinha lauded the defender, saying:

"He is a player who everyone describes as having big potential to be one of the centre-halves of the future with the Portuguese national team.

"We believe in him and he can perform on the right or on the left which is good in a centre-half."

It didn’t go to plan for Cardoso, playing just 18 matched for the club, although a severe facial injury sustained against Motherwell didn’t help matters either, and he left on a free transfer once Steven Gerrard had taken over in the summer of 2018.

He joined CD Santa Clara and after 11 goals in 97 matches, his performances caught the eye of Portuguese heavyweights Porto, who signed him in 2021.

The 28-year-old looks a different player to the one that rocked up at Ibrox six years ago, with his performances in the Champions League this term a particular highlight.

Across four matches in Europe’s premier competition, Cardoso has won over half of his duels, made 1.8 tackles, 3.8 clearances and 0.8 interceptions per game, keeping three clean sheets in those matches and proving that he has the ability to shine at the highest level.

Having left for nothing five years ago, Cardoso is now valued at €3.6m (£3.2m) by FootballTransfers and perhaps Gerrard should have given him a chance to showcase his abilities during his first pre-season as opposed to shipping him out as soon as possible.

With his ever-improving performances, it certainly looks like Rangers had a mare over the 6 foot 1 titan, and he has gone on to prove a lot of people wrong since departing Glasgow.