Rangers are reportedly closing in on a deal for Malian winger Adama Traore.
That’s if reports coming out of Africa are to be believed, the latest claims in AfricaFoot suggesting that a deal to bring the 28-year-old to Ibrox is already well ‘advanced’.
The report claims that Adama Traore, who helped fire Ferencvaros to the Hungarian league title this season, is valued at around £3.5m.
Despite Premier League Fulham also being interested, the reports claim that Rangers are winning the race for the electric wide-man who is almost as fast as Kylian Mbappe.
Throw into the mix Traore’s 14 goals and five assists from out wide for Ferencvaros this season and suddenly this looks like an exciting signing.
And when you dig a little deeper into Adama Traore the links take another twist.
Traore’s agency has Rangers links
According to Transfermarkt, Adama Traore is a client of the Wasserman sports agency.
One of the world’s biggest sports agencies, the Malian is not alone, with the LA-based representation boasting over 55 football professionals in their ranks.
Rangers are already familiar with a number of them.
Former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard is famously a Wasserman client and it was during the reign of the former Liverpool midfielder that the connection with Ibrox deepened.
Jermain Defoe, Fashion Sakala and James Sands were all Wasserman clients.
Of the current crop, Connor Goldson, Lewis Budinauckas and John Lundstram are represented by the agency.
It’s a small link perhaps and we’ll wait for something more concrete to break closer to home before we get too excited.
But it’s clear Rangers have a route to get in front of the 54-times capped Malian winger.
Can Malian fire Gers to Champions League?
Philippe Clement has spoken about needing to add more experience to the squad on top of the young talent which fits the player trading profile.
It’s all well good Rangers moving for players who have room to develop at Ibrox but the squad also needs a healthy balance of experience, athleticism and players in their prime.
Adama Traore would represent such a signing if Rangers can pull a deal off.
An explosive winger as we’ve explained, Traore has spent the last two years in Hungary following a spell with Sheriff Tiraspol, the Moldovan* club who famously beat Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Before that Traore was being bounced around loan spells in Saudi Arabia and the French lower leagues whilst developing at Metz.
Before that the winger was impressing people back in the West of Africa and the Congo.
In 73 games for Ferencvaros, Traore boasts 32 goals and 16 assists and helped the club to a league title this season.
In the Champions League too, the winger fired Sheriff to the group stages with four goals in qualifying before adding another two in the competition proper back in 2021.
In 2022 the attacker scored four goals in six qualifying games as Ferencvaros missed out on the land of milk and honey.
What’s the catch?
Traore missed periods of this season through injury and as Rangers try and overcome years of non-stop medical drama this will heighten the nerves a little.
That’s even if Traore has been fit and regularly featuring for Ferencvaros since the middle of March.
With Rangers desperately short of quality width, and in desperate need of the Champions League fortune; an explosive, pacey, lethal Malian winger with plenty of experience getting the job done?
No danger.
