Let's have a natter about wee Danilo Pereira da Silva – a figure, if you're at all familiar with football beyond green and white hoops. Born back in '99, on April 7th no less, this Brazilian upstart weighs in at 11 stone 9 pounds, standing at a startlingly average height of 5 foot 8 inches.
Presently plying his trade with Rangers, I must tell you, he's yet to make much of a mark this season. If you're keeping count, that's zero first team appearances. Compare that to his debut, the matchless 2023-2024 season which saw him grace the pitch a whopping 12 times, even netting four times to boot.
Before his time at Rangers, Danilo was kicking about over at Feyenoord in the Netherlands. With 34 appearances and ten goals in the 2022-2023 season, dare I say he was having a more productive time of it.
His footballing journey truly began however at Ajax, the Dutch giants. 13 appearances, two goals - an unremarkable 2021-2022 season. Perhaps we can afford him some leniency; he was merely getting warmed up.
Warmed up he certainly was, with a spell at FC Twente proving fruitful - 17 goals in 33 appearances in the 2020-2021 season. They must have been absolutely devastated when he was plucked back by Ajax, only to make a single, lonesome appearance in the 2019-2020 season.
Danilo's early days in the game were spent cutting his teeth at Jong Ajax, around 2017-2018. Making one single appearance in his debut season, did anyone envisage the journey that lay ahead? 33 appearances and 19 goals in the 2018-2019 season later, we were left in no doubt - this lad had potential.
Today, he runs around in the "distinctive" blue of Rangers, sporting the number 99 on his back. What's next for Danilo Pereira da Silva? Only time will tell.
