United States international defender wonderkid James Sands sent back to New York City after having loan with an option to buy agreement cancelled by Rangers..

2023-03-05 19:08

United States international defender wonderkid James Sands sent back to New York City after having loan with an option to buy agreement cancelled by Rangers..





Rangers announced on the official website on Saturday that the club has cancelled the loan withan option to buy agreement of American international defender wonderkid James Sands and the player will be sent back to his parent club New York City immediately.


According to the official statement of Rangers, the head coach Michael Beale thinks that the club cannot guarantee that Sands will become an important member of the team after many considerations, and believes that he should be given the right to be the key player in other clubs, so he decided to cancel thr agreement and send Sands back to New York City.


Upon the news that Sands was abandoned and could only return to New York City, Alexi Lalas, the former legendary American international center back, said emotionally in an interview with the online media GOAL that Sand's situation just gave everyone a good lesson especially for American players who have always dreamed of going to Europe.


Lalas said: "The experience of Sands just proves that the green isn't always greener abroad. I think this is the one thing which all young American players who are now fantasizing about going to Europe to develop their careers should learn from."


"I understand that the dream of American players wanting to play in the European league is very strong, and I also know that the attraction is difficult to resist, but only if you think carefully before you make a decision."


"I sympathize with James, but at the same time I agree that this is a mistake caused by making a decision too impulsively. It is easy to go to Europe. There are flights to Europe every hour in our country. Maybe you may encounter delays in your flight. or cancellations, but that's not a big problem."


"The hardest part for me is that it's easy to go to Europe, but landing in the right place is a big problem that you can never predict. No one can predict whether the club in Europe they had moved to is the right choice for them to play for, there are not many years in your life that you can regret, but the important thing is that after you make a mistake, you must know how to get back up immediately and become more rational and mature than before."


"It is undeniable that Sands is a good player. He is a talented player with great potential. For him, maybe returning to New York City is the best way for him to develop his career prospects at this moment."


James Sands, who is only 22 years old, was born on July 6, 2000 in Rye, Westchester County, New York, USA. He is 1.86 meters tall. He primarily plays as a center back, but he can also be played as a defensive midfielder. His twin brother Will is also a defensive midfielder and is currently playing for Columbus Crew.


Sands joined the New York City youth academy when he was 10 years old, and was trained by Chris Leaver, the former English coach of West Ham United and Fulham youth academies during his time with the youth academy during his childhood.


In July 2017, Sands was promoted to the first-team and became the first homegrown youth academy academy in the New York City club history. In September of the same year, he replaced Italy legendary former international midfielder Andrea Pirlo as a substitue, to complete his first-team debut.


Since his debut, Sands has won 1 Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup with the team and was also selected to the MLS All-Star team once before becoming a member of the US national team that won the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2021.


In January 2022, Sands joined Rangers on an 18-month loan with an option to buy. During the period when former head coach, former Netherlands legendary international left-back Giovanni Van Bronckhorst was in-charge, Sands won the Scottish Cup once with the club as a key player and reached the Europa League final last season. However, since Van Bronckhorst was sacked at the end of November, Beale who took over has slowly stopped utilising Sands.


During his time at Rangers, Sands played 41 times for the Scottish Premiership giants in all competitions and scored 1 goal.