Introducing Dalcio…the Benfica prospect now on loan at Rangers

Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha has wasted no time in the transfer market this summer. Having already snapped up Euro 2016 winner Bruno Silva and Aberdeen ace Ryan Jack, a third signing has now arrived…in the form of Benfica loanee Dalcio.

So, what can Gers fans expect from the 21-year-old?

Though the youngster isn’t an especially flashy or eye-catching player, he’s technically very gifted, especially when it comes to distribution. And the loanee will also prove a versatile option for Caixinha, having featured in central midfield, attacking midfield and on the right wing for Benfica B last term.

However, while he’s yet to break into the Aquias first team, the Almada-born playmaker has shown he’s got the consistency and the build to handle life in top-level football.

Dalcio made his senior debut for boyhood club Belenenses in the Portuguese Liga back in January 2015, and went on to play 17 of the next 20 games in the campaign, netting the equaliser in a 3-2 victory over Sporting Lisbon along the way.

And having been consigned to the B-team at Benfica, despite consistently good displays, he’ll be desperate to prove he can build on the success he had in senior football at Estadio do Restelo.

Still, he’ll be looking to improve under Caixinha, whose biggest legacy as Estoril boss – even above promotion and the club’s first European campaign – lay in developing young Portuguese talent.

Chalking up a modest haul of one goal and three assists for Benfica B in 2016-17, his end product needs working on. Now alongside experienced, clinical players like Kenny Miller and Martyn Waghorn, you could argue that he’s now in the ideal place to do that.

With Rangers’ Europa League campaign beginning later this month, he’s likely to be thrown in at the deep end. And personally, we think Dalcio will swim – rather than sink.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing