Cantwell: Beale’s detailed pitch sold me on move to Rangers

Todd Cantwell has revealed that he was sold on a move to Rangers after a detailed conversation with Michael Beale about his role in the team.

The playmaker completed a move from Norwich City on Monday, becoming Beale’s first signing as Rangers boss.

Cantwell is looking to give his career a jump start, having impressed in the English Premier League with the Canaries at a young age, before slipping out of the first team picture over the last year or so.

He said it was important to know how he would be used before committing to any club and Beale had gone straight into the specifics of what was envisaged at Ibrox.

“The vision, the most important thing for me right now, is getting back to playing and enjoying my football,” Cantwell explained. “I lost a little bit of that and I think they sensed that was important to me. I think you get the best version of me by just enjoying myself.

“When I spoke to the manager there was incredible depth to his detail in such a short first opening conversation. It really opened my eyes up to what I was potentially signing up to.

“Obviously as a player you want that sort of clarity when you come up. You don’t want to arrive as a winger and end up as a left back. He’s been pretty clear what he wants from me.

“Naturally every manager wants a player that’s going to work hard and give him 100% so that’s the bottom line, really.

“It was the most important conversation.

“I think for me and my career and where I sit right now, having a manager that believes in me, and a project where the manager here is building something, it was really important for me.

“At some clubs that’s not always outlined and clear so to come here and have it so clear is brilliant.”

The 24-year-old believes he can make a contribution in a range of attacking positions to help Beale’s Rangers enjoy success and said that the manager had shown enthusiasm for that sort of versatility.

“The type of player that I am, it’s really important that I play in a possession-based team,” Cantwell said. “It’s really important that I play in a free-flowing type attack. Here that fits a lot of positions so it gives me a lot of space to create and do exactly what it is. In that sense I shouldn’t have many excuses (for not performing)

“I’ve made my bread and butter playing off the wing but I think naturally playing more centrally is where I would see myself in years to come and luckily the manager sees it that way as well.

“I think he’s aware that I can play in multiple different positions. The freedom and rotation that potentially could happen here means I could play in an array of different positions.”

The Englishman said that he shared a need to win games with the Ibrox club and that gaining experience of playing European football was another major factor in making the move to Glasgow.

The immediate priorities for Rangers are the domestic competitions and though he had been out of first team action for some time, Cantwell says he is ready to go and only needs to develop match sharpness.

“My fitness is good,” he said. “I’m lucky really, I’ve got a good base fitness.

“Just because I haven’t played doesn’t mean I’ve not been working hard.

“I’m not in the place I would like to be because you can only get match fitness from playing games. I’ll take a bit of time to get up to speed but in terms of base fitness I’m in a good place.”