---
title: "Rangers: Petkovic reveals Cedric Itten Switzerland snub"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/rangers-gers-ibrox-steven-gerrard-cedric-itten-switzerland-vladimir-petkovic/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "jonathan radcliffe"
section: "Features"
published: "2021-05-24T16:00:30Z"
modified: "2021-05-24T16:00:30Z"
---

# Rangers: Petkovic reveals Cedric Itten Switzerland snub

**Switzerland manager Vladimir Petkovic has indirectly blamed Steven Gerrard after Glasgow Rangers striker Cedric Itten was not called up for the European Championships this summer.**

### **The Lowdown: Itten not in Switzerland squad**

Last week, Petkovic revealed his 29-man preliminary squad for the Euros this summer. Three players will drop out before the tournament kicks off on June 11th.

\[freshpress-quiz id=”351179″\]

Surprisingly, Itten was not included even though he has scored three goals in three games for his country ([Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/three-uncapped-players-switzerland-preliminary-euro-squad-2021-05-19/)).

### **The Latest: Petkovic shares the reason behind the decision**

Following the announcement, Petkovic revealed why Itten was not named in the squad. He said ([via The Daily Record](https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-striker-cedric-ittens-switzerland-24166636)):

> *“I already know Cedric Itten, but unfortunately for him, he didn’t play that much for Rangers this season.*
>
> *“Andi Zeqiri did well for his team and the same goes for Dan Ndoye. I don’t know them well so this is a chance for me to get to work with them.*
>
> *“I wanted to give new players the chance to experience tournament football.*
>
> *“I gave Denis Zakari and Nico Elvedi a similar chance before the Euro 2016 tournament and both are now established in my squad. So young players are the future.”*

### **The Verdict: Disappointing**

Itten will no doubt be bitterly disappointed to miss out. The European Championships are a special tournament, and no player will be happy not to be included in their respective squads. The fact of the matter, though, is that the £4.05m-valued Gers man ([Transfermarkt](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/cedric-itten/marktwertverlauf/spieler/243856)) has just not played enough games.

\[freshpress-poll id=”358585″\]

He did appear in 38 matches in all competitions, but he started just 10 of them ([Transfermarkt](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/cedric-itten/leistungsdaten/spieler/243856/saison/2020/plus/1#gesamt)). [Six](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/cedric-itten/leistungsdaten/spieler/243856/saison/2020/plus/1#gesamt) goals and three assists is not a terrible return, but for whatever reason, Steven Gerrard felt he was not good enough to play a bigger role this season and given the success Rangers had, it’s hard to argue with the manager’s decision.

Switzerland have won two out of two World Cup qualifiers ([fifa.com](https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/#europe)) and will be hoping to make the tournament in Qatar next November – Itten must play a bigger part for Rangers over the next 18 months if he wants to be at that tournament.

***In other news, [Danny Mills slams Rangers’ treatment of this midfielder.](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/rangers-fc-news/rangers-gers-ibrox-steven-gerrard-danny-mills-ianis-hagi-olympics/)***