What's happened to Juninho Bacuna after Rangers and Birmingham City? | OneFootball

Football League World looks at the intriguing career path of Juninho Bacuna after the midfield maverick's exit from Birmingham City two years ago

Birmingham City fans may want to forget about all the campaigns which preceded the real ignition of Knighthead's ownership upon suffering relegation to League One in 2024, although there are many players from that era who still captured hearts and minds at Blues - and, in other cases, have enjoyed interesting routes ever since.

Blues would spend several seasons circling the drop-zone, failing to finish higher than 17th across eight terms before finally falling into League One two years ago, thus sparking the flames for a significant clear-out and rebuild of the club.

In many ways, it was an essential fate in order for Knighthead, having taken control the previous summer, to truly make their presence felt and initiate a new era for the Second City outfit, where everything had appeared to go stale both on and off-the-pitch.

That summer, no fewer than 16 players left St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park ahead of Birmingham's first third-tier campaign in close to 30 years, and among the litany of household names departing the West Midlands, Juninho Bacuna also sought the exit door to initiate a more nomadic stage of his career.

Juninho Bacuna had mixed spells with Rangers and Birmingham City

Bacuna represents one of the more intriguing players to have turned out for Birmingham in the seasons building up to the club's relegation and subsequent resurgence back into the Championship, having often divided opinion throughout his two-and-a-half years at Blues.

Now aged 29, the dynamic midfielder's career began in his native Netherlands with Groningen before he earned a switch to then-Premier League outfit Huddersfield Town in the summer of 2018.

Bacuna spent just over three years in West Yorkshire, only appearing sporadically at the highest level prior to establishing himself as a leading post-relegation performer and going on to join Rangers in 2021.

His time at Ibrox was short and brief as he made just six league appearances in five months, failing to win over Giovanni van Bronckhorst and highlighting the departure of Steven Gerrard as the moment where his fate north of the border took a turn for the worse.

That's exactly what prompted Bacuna to force through an exit that January and he made a swift return to the Championship with Birmingham, who offered up a three-and-a-half year contract to turn the playmaker's head.

Though blighted by inconsistency during a time when the side were consistently battling against relegation, Bacuna arguably enjoyed his finest form in the Midlands and has not featured on more occasions for any club than he did at Blues.

Bacuna ended his first half-season in B9 with two goals and three assists as Birmingham finished in 20th position, but struggled to build upon that tally the following year when he recorded the same goal return despite missing just three league matches.

Ironically, Bacuna's third and final campaign at Blues yielded the strongest of his career - even if his often-divisive exploits weren't enough to save his side after Wayne Rooney's disastrous short appointment set the tone for Gary Rowett to oversee relegation to League One.

The maverick talent, who featured prominently anywhere in midfield and on the flanks over the course of his 111 appearances for the Championship outfit, racked up nine goals and a further six assists from 48 outings across all competitions, which still fell short of fully convincing many Bluenoses.

Undoubtedly gifted with a range of physical gifts through his speed and endurance, Bacuna's technical talents were also apparent and carried a certain degree of X-Factor that could change a game in the blink of an eye.

Ultimately, however, his time at Birmingham would be defined by fleeting flashes of brilliance accompanied by inconsistency and, from more than a few supporters, question marks surrounding his work-ethic and application, with Bacuna often showing up - and with great aplomb, it must be said - when it suited him best.

What ex-Rangers man Juninho Bacuna is doing after Birmingham City exit

Few eyebrows were raised when Bacuna opted against sticking around for a campaign in League One by sealing his exit in August 2024 with a switch to then-Saudi Pro League side Al-Wehda, although it would be fair that the last couple of years haven't gone to plan.

The Curacao international was relegated twice in as many seasons as Al-Wehda fel into the second-tier of Saudi football, having weighed in with eight goal contributions during his sole campaign with the Mecca-based club.

Unwilling to remain in the aftermath of relegation once again, Bacuna moved swiftly to join Gaziantep FK of Turkiye, yet his time in the Süper Lig has hardly proved a roaring success either.

That's because he made just nine league appearances during the first-half of the previous campaign before returning home with a mid-season switch to FC Volendam, where he featured on 15 occasions while on loan.

Remarkably, though, Volendam would also suffer relegation to mark three successive demotions for Bacuna between 2024 and 2026, which just goes to show the midfielder's plight in recent times.

He has tasted more success on the international stage for Curacao, having now collected more than 50 caps after catching the eye at this summer's World Cup with impressive displays against Germany and Ecuador.

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However, his club career remains on the slide at Gaziantep, where he was sent off in his second league fixture of the new season and is unlikely to start games on a consistent basis.

Juninho Bacuna has failed to reach his potential after Rangers, Birmingham City spells

Now aged 29, it unfortunately feels as though Bacuna is in real danger of being defined by, for whatever reason, an inability to reach his full potential.

We have, of course, seen exactly what the Curacao starlet is capable of producing in glimpses.

Indeed, he often shone at Huddersfield and the numbers provided solid evidence during his final season with Birmingham, even if fans were divided on his ability to have a consistent impact - and that's perhaps where Bacuna has always fallen short.

On pure ability alone, it's not outlandish to suggest that he could've enjoyed a career spent predominantly at top-flight level, yet it's turning out to be a typical journeyman one after leaving English football for good two years ago.