The re-signing of Leon Balogun took us to seven signing so far this summer. In normal years that would be an acceptable level of business, in some years punters would have sold a kidney to get to this point. The fact is though this isn’t a normal year and it can’t afford to be a slow year. With so many now through the door what do Rangers still need to accomplish in this window?
Well lets start at the site of our last transfer, central defence. Leon Balogun makes sense as an emergency stop-gap, especially with youngster, Leon King sidelined for a lengthy spell. Whilst bringing Balogun back covers for losing King we already needed a CB, prior to Kings injury. Leon fills a hole but we aren’t going to be building the team with him as a core part of the spine. The need remains, especially with Goldson touch and go for the season opener, Davies not the strongest defending the ball on the ground or in the air and Souttar being great but slightly undependable due to his injury history.
The most talked about target is Jonathan Panzo from Nottingham Forrest. We need a CB, he fits the bill and there is also potential to use Borna Barasic to make this one happen with the English side rumoured to be carrying an interest in the LB. THe youngster has played for England youth sides and is well regarded down south. If the interest is real this could be a guy we build round and also help net a significant fee in a few years as part of the player trading model employed by Rangers.
Panzo on England duty
Next up we move forward a line to central midfield. With Lundstram going from the “best on earth” to “he can’t be fit” there are major question marks over his future in the middle. Obviously one of these berths will usually be occupied by Nico Raskin the other one is very much up for grabs with Lundstram, Jack and Kamara all laying claim to the spot at the end of last season. Fast forward to now and Lundstram worries me to rely on, Jack is in the same boat as Souttar, good player but injuries means you would hesitate to rely on him and Kamara looking half way out the door already in a deal that will suit both sides.
Queue the longest running saga so far this summer where LAFC player, Jose Cifuentes, is mooted to be coming. The player himself has further fueled this speculation liking various Rangers fan tweets asking if he is still coming and pressing for LAFC to let him go. This one is a little more complicated and very closely mirrors the winter window acquisitions of Cantwell and Raskin. Coming from the MLS this is only half way through Cifuentes’ season and the MLS side will be wary of letting the player go when they have a season to finish. The flip side of this is if they do hold out to X-Mas then Cifuentes will leave for nothing. I imagine there is a sweetspot where they will let him go, that said it’s not going to be 50k, ala Kamara. This one will likely come down to how important a Lundstram, Jack or Kamara replacement is for manager Beale. If he feels we need him now then I imagine that despite the horsetrading going on, Rangers will stump up and bring him in.
LAFC Ecuadorian star, Cifuentes lining up to put the laces through a shot
The last position acknowledged as needing filled is in the attacking three. Despite bringing in Sima, Lammers and Dessers we still need to top up in the firepower stakes. Balancing these incomings we lost Morelos and Kent under freedom of contract with Kent now plying his trade in Turkey and Morelos still in the hunt for a club. We’ve also just seen Antonio Colak, last seasons joint top scorer, leave in a €2.5m deal to Parma. This means outside the three new guys we have Cantwell who could play as a 10 and Roofe left to suplement them. Now Roofe shouldn’t just be ignored as he is likely still the best striker at the club, when fit. The problem is the phrase “when fit” as recent seasons have seen him miss more games than he has played. We are told he’s had an op and hopes this is all behind him now and I truly hope so for both his and the clubs sake. That said relying on him lasting the campaign would be gross negligence by Beale. I doubt anyone is going to sign him for this season and he will stay, if he is fit I would give him game time too but anything given by Roofe has to be seen as a bonus, rather than relying on him. Until we see him last a season we aboslutely can’t expect him to lead the line for Rangers.
All the moves outward combine to point the finger at Feyenoods Brazilian attacker Danilo. Another long running transfer rumour who has also shown he favours a move via his social media activity. The Dutch side are holding out for a decent sum though and rumour has it that they are after €6m, a higher cost than Dessers arrived from Italy for. Despite the cost involved this one seems to genuinely excite fans. Both Lammers and Dessers had underwhelming seasons last year and we are relying on proven ability in the past, rather than form. Scoring 10 goals in the sides European adventures, despite not even being first choice striker there shows this guy definitely knows where the net is!
Danilo in action for Feyenoord
Perhaps the delay in any of the moves above happening comes from another factor at Rangers. Beale previously said he had funds available and the transfers so far suggest this is accurate, however he has also talked about a smaller squad and we do have to consider FFP which now has rules around wages to income ratios. It’s entirely plausible that we need to shift on some squad players, before we can complete the last few signings the manager wants. So who needs to leave Rangers?
Most fans would have given you a fairly hefty list at the end of last season, even after we got rid of the players out of contract. Obviously we are all aware we’ve shorn Morelos, Kent, McGregor, Helander, Arfield, Zukowski and Tillman from last seasons squad, however those seven have been replaced by incomings now, which leaves us with the same size of squad Belae already said he wanted to trim.
The first move that’s gone through was Colak leaving for Italy, which the club have recently confirmed. We’ve also got rumours of Sakala attracting interest from Saudi sides. If they are offering anything like the reported £4m I would bite there hand off. Sakala seems a genuinely nice guy and certainly does chip in with goals but he is also highly erratic and as a fan you never know what you are going to get that day.
Glen Kamara is another rumoured to be half way out the door. Beale already talked about him moving on and with him being a star of the Finnish side it’s unlikely he fancies another season bench warming. It seems a good fit for both sides to move him on for around £5m.
Scott Wright is another rumoured to be on the move with Saudi interest supposedly coming from ex Rangers manager, Gerrard. I would actually expect Wright to stay this season. Whilst nowhere near Sakala for numbers he has a similar burst of pace that may be useful in certain situations and unlike Sakala he counts as homegrown, meaning we gain a benefit in terms of European squads.
There aren’t many serious rumours outside of these players, however you have to imagine if anything did come in for other squad players we would likely accept. Once we get a few more outgoings confirmed we will hopefully see the last few signings come inward to complete our squad for the 23/24 season. If they can pull off the last 3 signings I believe Rangers will have had an excellent window and we will begin to see this bearing fruit over the coming season.
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