Emmanuel Fernandez: How Makhanya partnership is reviving defender’s form

Super Eagles defender Emmanuel Fernandez has been credited by Olwethu Makhanya for his rapid integration into Rangers, Afrik-Foot reports.

Fernandez had spent the opening weeks of the 2026/27 Scottish Premiership season under significant criticism from a section of the Rangers fanbase, with his positional judgement, communication and speed of play publicly questioned by supporters who had grown frustrated with Rangers’ inconsistent defensive body of work.

However, the arrival of Makhanya from Philadelphia Union in the summer transfer window has now addressed the tactical dimension that had been undermining Fernandez’s individual output.

The Fernandez-Makhanya partnership was on display again during Rangers’ second consecutive Old Firm derby victory over Celtic, and the 22-year-old South African used his post-match media interviews to formally credit the Nigerian for the defensive stability the pair have now begun to produce together.

Makhanya credits Emmanuel Fernandez partnership for Rangers togetherness

Makhanya’s specific verdict on the budding partnership captured the complementary factor that had been missing from Fernandez’s first-month body of work this season.

“The partnership and the relationship with Emmanuel Fernandez are growing,” Makhanya told Soccer Laduma.

“We have a togetherness as a group, and that’s what we want.”

The togetherness captures the dressing-room atmosphere Fernandez’s earlier Rangers criticism had been missing.

His previous defensive body of work at Ibrox had been produced across 19 different centre-back partnerships in 14 months, meaning there was no consistency with his partners in front of the goalkeeper.

Makhanya continued the theme when reflecting on the specific pre-international-break window that the Old Firm victory had capped.

“It was very important, especially going into the international break; we wanted to leave in a good way. For us, we want to go into this break and then pick it back up again.”

The bigger significance of Makhanya’s Fernandez endorsement is that it identifies the defensive-partnership continuity that Rangers head coach Derek McInnes has been quietly building around the Nigerian.

His defensive contributions are now climbing back to the elite level that produced his last season’s Rangers Fans’ Player of the Season award, and his communication patterns with Makhanya have now settled into a rhythm that has produced four straight clean sheets.

What Makhanya’s comments mean for Fernandez’s Super Eagles ambition

The benefit of Makhanya’s endorsement is that it reopens the Super Eagles selection conversation around Fernandez ahead of the October Russia friendly and the November AFCON qualifiers.

Chelle’s centre-back choices for the game against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau will most likely be Semi Ajayi and Calvin Bassey.

However, the returning defender Benjamin Fredrick, alongside the rise of Chibuike Nwaiwu, means Fernandez will find minutes hard to come by in the green and white jersey.

The October Russia friendly at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium would offer Chelle a low-stakes competitive environment to reintegrate Fernandez into the Super Eagles setup, and the partnership he has built at Rangers makes that reintegration an attractive proposition.

For Fernandez, the Makhanya credit represents the vindication of his patience through the criticism he has endured over the first six weeks of the 2026/2027 season.