BAC OF THE NET
Groningen boss believes Gers have snapped up a star in Dutch ace Juninho
IT took Danny Buijs only a matter of days to realise there was no stopping Juninho Bacuna’s desire to reach the top.
He’s only 24 but Bacuna has a lot of experience already with Groningen and Huddersfield DANNY BUIJS ON IBROX NEW BOY JUNINHO BACUNA
Newly installed as the head coach at Groningen, the former Kilmarnock midfielder made it a priority to get the youngster tied down on a new deal as he entered the final year of his contract at the Euroborg. It was to no avail. Just 20 years old, he already had higher ambitions and was soon packing his bags for the Premier League and Huddersfield. For Buijs it was a case of ‘hakuna matata’ as Bacuna said ta-ta. Now, three years on, the promising Dutch kid is at Rangers and his old gaffer couldn’t be prouder. Indeed, Buijs expects Bacuna to flourish in Glasgow and continue his upward career trajectory after it threatened to stall in England’s second tier. Europe is the next challenge for the player and he will finally get the chance to add to his solitary Europa League appearance which came as a secondhalf substitute for Groningen against Slovan Liberec almost six years ago. Steven Gerrard has wasted no time adding the energetic midfielder to his Euro squad ahead of next week’s Group A opener with Lyon at Ibrox. Before then the 24-year-old could make his debut in Saturday’s Premiership clash with St Johnstone. And, speaking to Record Sport, Buijs has no doubt that he’s ready for the challenge. He said: “This is a new challenge for Bacuna and one he’ll relish. European football is the next step for him. “I’ll be curious to see how he performs but I’m also confident he’ll succeed. He’s an all-round midfielder, physically strong, technically good, scores goals and can play several positions, out wide or central.
“For me he is best as a box-to-box midfielder. Bacuna has a lot of power, he can do defensive work but also get forward and give important passes in the end zone and score goals.
“Working every day with a manager like Steven Gerrard, who was so good in that position, will be a massive attraction too.
“I would have loved to have worked with him longer because I believed in his qualities and he was only going to get better, but he had other ambitions.
“I knew in January 2018 that I’d be taking over at Groningen that summer. So I saw him play for four or five months and then I tried to get him
SNAPPED UP Gerrard signed for an extra year as soon as I took over. “The philosophy at the club is that young players who have one year left on their contract they want to sell to make some money. He was entering the final year so I tried to convince him to stay and extend his contract for one more year, but he didn’t want to and we had to sell. “It was disappointing because it was my first month in the job as a professional head coach and you want to keep your best players, especially young ones who can develop to an even higher level. “But you have to respect the philosophy of the club and the choice of the player because I spoke with him many times and he wanted to move to England.” Buijs knows the Scottish game first hand after his season at Rugby Park in which he helped Killie stun Celtic at Hampden to lift the League Cup in 2012. His spell
was riddled by injuries but he’s certain Bacuna will be in perfect shape for the rigours of the Premiership after two years in the hustle and bustle of the English Championship.
He faces a big task forcing his way into an Ibrox engine room that’s powered by Steven Davis, Glen Kamara, Joe Aribo and Scott Arfield with Ryan Jack soon to return from injury and John Lundstram also pushing for a place.
But Buijs said: “He is only 24 but Bacuna has a lot of experience already because he has played 80-90 games for Groningen at a young age and now over 100 games in England for Huddersfield.
“If he didn’t have that experience then you can have problems with the high intensity and power of Scottish football – I know because I went straight to Kilmarnock from the Netherlands.
“I had a lot of muscle injuries as I tried to adapt.
“But Bacuna has that experience from the Championship and Premier League in England.
“You never know for sure but if I had to put money on him being a success or a failure I would put it on him being a success.
“He has the qualities to become an important player for Rangers.
“It’s not a surprise to me that he did well in England and got a move to a massive club like Rangers.
“Now it’s up to him to show that he is good enough for that level.”