“I was hoping for more” – Player disappointed with start after Rangers exit

On March 31st, Rangers confirmed Rabbi Matondo’s Ibrox exit to join SK Brann on a permanent transfer. The Norwegian club took him away from Danny Röhl’s side as the window there was open until last month.

The winger joined Rangers from Schalke in July 2022 and had failed to cement a place at Ibrox.

To put it in context, he played 2,706 minutes from 70 matches, managing eight goals and 11 assists for Rangers.

In January 2025, the Scottish club sent him on loan to Hannover 96 and prior to that, we relayed news of Ajax’s interest. Since returning from his loan spell in Germany, he lost prominence at Rangers.

Russell Martin didn’t offer him any minutes and his successor, Röhl, used him two times in cup competitions this season. He only played a minute in the Scottish Premiership, which was against Aberdeen FC in November.

The restricted rule under Röhl this season would have convinced him to leave Rangers permanently in search of regular minutes.

Yet to take off after Rangers exit

Rabbi Matondo is yet to showcase his talent since leaving Ibrox for SK Brann a few weeks ago.

Since moving to Norway, Brann manager Freyr Alexandersson had left him as an unused substitute in the first two matches.

At the weekend, the former Rangers man came off the bench late in his side’s 3-2 loss to Viking FK to play for a minute.

After the latest defeat, the Wales international spoke to Bergens Tidende and Monday’s edition of the newspaper have relayed his comments.

The attacker was hardly on the pitch, after coming off the bench in the 96th minute.

Matondo is unhappy both with his own situation and the latest defeat.

“Of course we wanted a better result,” he said.

“It wasn’t many minutes. In my mind, I’m more ready than ever and I was hoping for more minutes, but that’s football. I feel ready for more than three-four minutes on the pitch. I could help more if I got more time.”

Our take: Welshman’s slow start not surprising

The former Rangers man playing only a few minutes for SK Brann shouldn’t come as a surprise.

That’s because Rabbi Matondo played just 65 minutes for Rangers this season, before his move to Norway. This indicates he lacks match practice and may need time to adapt and adjust to new club in a new country.

Barring a surprise development, it should take the player time to try and cement his place at Brann.