On the same day that Rangers’ links with a new defensive target were played down somewhat, their pursuit of a reinforcement at the other end of the pitch appears to have been handed a boost.
Was this really Thomas Galdames’ final game for Godoy Cruz, the Chilean defender grabbing two assists from left-back in a 4-0 Argentine Cup thrashing of El Porvenir?
Well, if so, that is news to him. Rangers are reportedly keen to bring Galdames to Ibrox after growing frustrated in the chase for Levski Sofia’s Jose Cordoba, but the man himself is either keeping his cards close to his chest or he’s genuinely in the dark over his future.
“I don’t know anything about my transfer yet,” Galdames says, via Vavel and the Daily Record.
“I prefer not to say anything about it. I don’t want to say anything until something is concrete because there has been a lot of speculation. The transfer market begins now, but I have to concentrate on the national team.
“If I do get a transfer, it needs to be something that will be good for my career,” he adds. “That’s what I have been working for since the day I became a footballer. I want to play for my country and then go to the Copa America.”
Rangers want Rapid Bucharest striker Albion Rrahmani
With Galdames’ contract expiring in six months’ time, an exit does seem inevitable. Godoy Cruz’s head coach already appears to have accepted defeat in his desire to retain the South American southpaw.
It appears that, with Rangers also hot on the heels of striker Albion Rrahmani, Bogdan Lobont is equally consigned to a summer departure.
Rapid Bucharest’s assistant coach took charge of the first team on the final day of the Romanian league season a fortnight ago and subbed Rrahmani off in the second-half.
Was this to give the Kosovo international the chance to say farewell to the fans who have loved watching his every move during what looks like his one and only season in Romania’s capital? It certainly seems like it.
“I subbed Rrahmani to receive a standing ovation,” Lobont now tells 1923, the publication reporting that a Rapid side who recently appointed Celtic legend Neil Lennon as their manager have a replacement lined up for the Rangers target.
Rapid have agreed a deal to bring in Louis Munteanu from Fiorentina. The 1923 website, while claiming that Rrahmani’s exit is a ‘certainty’, adds that Lennon’s new side will ask for £4.6 million.
That is more than the fee reported in some quarters, but less than the £6.8 million sum floated by Rapid president Dan Sucu.
A £4.6 million bargain potentially
Despite the best efforts of the hard-working but wasteful Cyriel Dessers, Rangers maybe need a more reliable number nine. And Rrahmani seems to possess the clarity and the coolness Dessers often lacks in the final third.
Elegant, agile, fast and capable of finishing with both feet, Rrahmani won the Golden Boot in Kosovo before scoring 19 goals in Romania.
“There is an 80 per cent chance that Albion Rrahmani will leave Rapid. We must prepare for this scenario,” says co-owner Victor Angelescu, Rapid doing exactly that by agreeing terms with Munteanu.
