The Rangers fans may be loathe to draw comparisons with despited Old Firm neighbours Celtic but, as Philippe Clement’s side attack the transfer market with rare verve and decisiveness, there do appear to be a few similarities with the early days of Ange Postecoglou at Parkhead.
Celtic raised eyebrows aplenty when casting their net further and wider than ever before in pursuit of bargain buys.
In hindsight, it’s an approach that worked wonders. Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda arrived from Japan, Liel Abada from Israel, Carl Starfelt from Russia and Josip Juranovic from Poland.
Now, no one is suggesting that Rangers are merely copying-and-pasting Celtic’s plan in pursuit of similar success. But if there are supporters concerned about the club’s interest in a number of players most in Glasgow wouldn’t recognise even while standing next to them at a bus stop, then the Postecoglou-era at Celtic is handy proof that the most obvious signings are not always the best ones.
Rangers looking far and wide in the transfer market
Rangers, in the Clement and Nils Koppen era, have already snapped up Mohamed Diomande from Denmark. They have looked at players in Hungary (Adama Traore), Cyprus (Jefte Vital), Australia (Raphael Borges Rodrigues), Romania (Albion Rrahmani) and South Africa (Rele Mofokeng).
Bulgaria, too;Levski Sofia defender Jose Cordoba.
Rangers entered advanced talks with Cordoba last week. And, after the Panama international was left out of the Levski squad over the weekend, a potential £3.2 million move to Ibrox appears to be progressing fast.
New reports coming out of Bulgaria on Wednesday, via Labor, say that ‘all roads lead to Glasgow’ for Cordoba. The 22-year-old has allegedly agreed on a contract with Rangers already. And, despite ‘persistent’ interest from Norwich City – Cordoba is indeed tempted by a move to the English championship – Rangers are the club he has decided to entrust with his future.
Cordoba, interestingly, has already visited Scotland’s second city. He was in the stands to watch the 4-1 hammering of Kilmarnock.
Clubs in Belgium, Turkey and France – including Ligue 1 giants LOSC Lille – have also been credited with an interest. But, at this stage, all the noises coming out of Bulgaria suggest that it would be a big surprise if Cordoba did not end up wearing Rangers blue.
Defender has reportedly chosen Rangers over Norwich
Former Aberdeen man John Inglis, who now works as an agent, spoke to the Scottish Sun this week, having asked his client and Levski ace Andrian Kraev about Cordoba. The response was nothing short of glowing.
“I’ve spoken with Andrian about Cordoba,” Inglis explains. “And he’s said not only is he probably the best defender in Bulgaria, (but) a top pro and player. He’s also a great guy.
“They are big compliments from Andrian. And he is confident Cordoba would do well for Rangers or any other club if he is to leave Levski.”
Whether the likes of Cordoba, Mofokeng, Jefte and Rrahmani work out for Rangers, only time will tell. But anyone questioning the wisdom of bringing in little-known players from some of the game’s less-visited markets clearly didn’t watch Celtic’s recent success on the pitch and in the transfer market closely enough.
