Potential free agents for Rangers

Over the past few years Rangers have been effective at signing free agents in the summer transfer window. These players have played a major role in forming the Rangers squad, a squad that, at the time of writing has just won the League Cup, topped their Europa League group and sit 5 points behind Celtic with 2 games in hand and 3 Old Firm fixtures still to play. 

 

The free agents signed over the last few years are:

 

2023;

Kieran Dowell

Dujon Sterling

Jack Butland

Leon Balogun

 

2022;

John Souttar

Tom Lawrence

 

2021;

Nnamdi Ofoborh

Fashion Sakala

John Lundstrum

 

2020;

John McLaughlin

Jermaine Defoe

Leon Balogun

 

 

It is well known that Rangers are not as strong financially as Celtic, yet they still seek to compete with Celtic domestically and have outperformed Celtic in Europe in recent years. Signing free agents has been a crucial tactic for Rangers with several of the above players being first team regulars and the rest being effective squad players. Arguably the only bad signing of those mentioned above is Ofoborh who failed to make an appearance, however a health issue was discovered soon after his arrival at Ibrox. 

 

So, which free agents might Rangers sign in the summer of 2024? I have compiled a list below of those players whose contracts are set to expire at the end of the current season and who may realistically be an option for Rangers. The ‘realistic’ criteria may change depending on how Rangers finish the season but for now I have generally excluded players contracted to those English teams challenging for European spots. I have also only looked at players currently playing in England and Scotland. 

 

Another caveat is that this list was compiled in December 2023, these players may be offered contract extensions at their current clubs or may agree a summer transfer in January. 

 


The transfer value in the table below is the estimate from transfermarkt.com and may not reflect a player’s true value in the market, it is however a useful metric.


Who would you like to see Rangers sign?





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rangers vs. Celtic: who is paying higher wages for their players?

Image
  As the season draws to a close and the transfer window opens there is again talk of a rebuild at Ibrox. Philippe Clement has improved a Rangers side he inherited and has already made his intent clear with the kind of signings he wants to make. Diomande has done well enough, but is sure to improve with a solid pre-season, Cortés looked great before falling injured and Silva has contributed well despite moving out of position for most of his spell. Diomande will be signed in the summer with Cortés likely to join him, it is unlikely Silva will make his move to Ibrox permanent. Over the past few years Rangers have done well at recruiting solid free agents, players here have included Calvin Bassey, Steven Davis, Dujon Sterling, Tom Lawrence, John Lundstram and Kieran Dowell amongst others. These free agents have been crucial in forming the Rangers squad with several becoming key players over the years. Saving money on a transfer has unfortunately not been entirely successful though. ...
Read more

Northern Ireland national team talent pool: September 2024

Image
With the close of the summer transfer window I thought I would update a piece I posted last year. I aim to show how deep the talent pool is for the Northern Ireland national team. To analyse our depth I have kept track of each player (hopefully not missing anyone) who has been called up to the senior or under 21s squads. I have organised them by general position eg. Defender, midfielder etc. rather than their specific positions, and organised them by their club and league. I have assigned each league a grade based on quality, this is subjective and after last year’s I have changed a few grades, notably moving the Irish Premiership, League of Ireland and Welsh Premier League up a tier and dropping Premier League 2 down a tier. I am sure there is still some debate about these but essentially we are focused on grades A-C as O’Neill rarely calls up any player playing below these league grades. The full list includes 137 players.  Following Jonny Evans’ retirement we only have one pla...
Read more

Larne FC’s European Windfall

Image
  Larne’s European run is over, the Inver Reds managed one win in their 6 league phase games in their first attempt at European football. With the Conference league offering more opportunities for teams from smaller nations to play European football, I am sure this will not be the last time a local side gets to ply their trade in Europe. Every team that qualifies for the UEFA Conference League earns €3.17 million. A win in the group stage is worth €400K and a draw €133. Each team them receives a share of €18.65 million depending on where they finish in the league phase. Teams that finish in the top 8 get a further €400K while those in the top 16 get a further €200K. Teams are also awarded money from the ‘Value Pillar’. The amount a team will earn is worked out based on their coefficient ranking and the pool nation’s broadcasting money. Larne competed for the first time and so have a low coefficient and teams from Northern Ireland receive the least of all the Home Nations in broad...
Read more