Ah yes, Rabbi Matondo. Born on the 9th of September in 2000, he's 24 years old, hails from England and presumably took a few wrong turns in life as he's ended up as a forward who tends to play left wing for Rangers. He's a bit of a short one for a footballer too, only 5 foot 8 inches tall (or 1.75m for those of you who live in the future), and weighs in at 10 stone 5 pounds (or 66 kg if you're not stuck in the past like me). The lad wears number 17 for his sins and has even represented the Wales national team. No accounting for taste.
In a once upon a time tale, he started his professional football journey with Manchester City in July 2016. "Manchester City you say? Premier League then?" Yes, you'd be right. After a stint there, he was sold off, rather like a piece of unwanted furniture, to Schalke 04 in the German 2nd Bundesliga for a princely sum of £8.1m. It's all 'according to Transfermarkt' (https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/). Do you remember those seven first team appearances he made in his 2018 - 2019 debut season at Schalke in Germany? Or perhaps the 20 appearances with two goals he managed in the 2019 - 2020 season? No? What about the three appearances in the 2020 - 2021 season? Still nothing? Well, some players just aren't memorable.
In January 2021, Matondo found himself in front of the Stoke City squad in the Championship as he was shipped off on loan. And would you believe it, he managed to scrape together ten first team appearances and one goal during the 2020 - 2021 season. In August 2021, he was uprooted again, off to Cercle Brugge in the Pro League in Belgium, on another merry-go-round loan deal. He pulled up his socks, though. He made 26 appearances, netting nine goals throughout the 2021 - 2022 season. Not bad, not bad at all.
In July 2022, he was finally sold off from Schalke to Rangers in Scotland for a whopping sum of £2.7m. I still think there's an extra zero there somewhere. Anyway, he made 19 appearances in his first 2022 - 2023 season with Rangers and duplicated that figure in the subsequent 2023 - 2024 season, even topping it up with five goals. In the current season of 2024 - 2025, the lad has already made four appearances and scored two goals. I'd wager that he'll make it past ten this time.
Medals and glitter, you say? He did give the League Cup 2024 - 2025 a whirl, with one start. Remember that Scottish Cup 2023 - 2024 where he graced the pitch twice as a starter and thrice as a substitute? And let's not forget his European adventures, featuring in the Europa League 2023 - 2024 with one start and three substituting appearances. He even dipped his toes into the caution-filled waters of the Champions League Qualifiers 2024 - 2025 with a solo substitute appearance. Still, there's time yet, isn't there?
