The phrase ‘necessary evil’ comes to mind as Rangers open talks to bring another of their leading summer targets to Ibrox.
RC Lens Oscar Cortes has already returned for a second spell at Ibrox, this time with a £4 million obligation-to-buy clause in his contract. That came days after a deal was finally rubber-stamped for long-time left-back target Jefte Vital.
And signing number three, if it is indeed going to be a certain £5 million man, could be the most exciting made by any club in Scotland between now and September.
According to reports – and despite a bid arriving from the Czech Republic – Rangers are reportedly leading the chase to sign Rapid Bucharest striker Albion Rrahmani. Nils Koppen, the Gers director who has plenty of credit in the bank following the left-field winter acquisitions of Cortes and Mohamed Diomande, has held talks with Rrahmani’s camp in the last week, per Digisport.
Rangers have held Albion Rrahmani talks
Scorer of 19 goals last season – 17 of those coming in the Romanian top-flight – Rrahmani will be difficult to replace. No wonder Rapid are holding out for over £5 million, turning down Slavia Prague’s initial offer. No wonder their new head coach – a certain Neil Lennon – is determined to retain the club’s top-scoring prized asset.
But with the financial crisis of 2015 and 2016 still fresh in the mind – so many Romanian clubs suffering serious after-effects – the feeling amongst some is that Rapid Bucharest would be best advised extracting maximum value from Rrahmani while the offers are there.
“I’m glad that the players from the domestic championship are leaving for good fees, even if they are not Romanian,” Raul Rusescu, capped 12 times by the Tricolor between 2012 and 2016, tells GSP Sport.
“It will be a loss for Rapid if they part ways with Rrahmani. When you lose your team’s top scorer, you have to bring in a replacement.
“Those who say; ‘What are you doing (selling Rapid’s star men)?’. They saw what happened ten years ago. We need money in Romanian football.”
Rrahmani’s former Rapid Bucharest team-mate Horatiu Moldovan has already left this year, joining Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in January. Marko Dugandzic, meanwhile, moved to Qatar with Al-Tai last summer.
Striker scored 19 goals last season
“For Moldovan and Dugandzic, money was received,” Rusescu adds. “The club made a profit, other players came in, and the money was reinvested. It’s perfectly normal and I totally agree with (president) Dan Sucu’s strategy.
“Don’t want to sell your players? Salaries will increase to please your footballers, and then you will have a problem.”
Rrahmani, an agile and two-footed finisher, won the Golden Boot in the Kosovan league back in 2023/24. Should Rangers win the race, Rrahmani would add further depth to a side which recently bid farewell to Kemar Roofe, lost Danilo for much of last season through injury, and spent much of the Philippe Clement era relying upon the well-meaning but frequently unreliable Cyriel Dessers for goals.
“There is an 80 per cent chance that Albion Rrahmani will leave Rapid. We must prepare for this scenario,” explains Rapid co-owner Victor Angelescu.
The capital city club appear to be doing exactly that, too, closing in on a replacement in Fiorentina’s Louis Munteanu.
