Rangers transfer target Mexer has signed for Bordeaux, as announced by the French club this evening.
#Mercato Edson Mexer est bordelais ! Le défenseur du Stade Rennais s'est engagé avec le club pour les 4 prochaines saisons !
???? https://t.co/J0YcILkNbi pic.twitter.com/NI8PZMv2cW— FC Girondins de Bordeaux (@girondins) May 9, 2019
Steven Gerrard was reported to have made the trip to France to scout the 30-year-old in action for Rennes last week, even being pictured with the defender, but apparently we’ve fallen short in our attempts to bring him to Glasgow.
Gerrard tempered fans’ expectations of the deal earlier today, all but confirming we had missed out, explaining to STV:
I think you’ve probably seen the picture in the public domain. I went to watch Rennes v Monaco to analyse a lot of players on the pitch, bumped into numerous players after the game and was asked for a picture.
I think people are putting a lot of speculation out there.
We are looking for centre-backs and Mexer is a good player who we admire but what I’m led to believe is that he’ll be playing his football in France next year.
Don’t take that as facts, that’s just what I’m hearing through the grapevine.
Clearly the manager had been given a heads up he had decided to make the switch to the Ligue 1 side, but the confirmation will still be a disappointment considering the experience and ability Mexer could have added to the squad.
With Joe Worrall heading back to Nottingham Forest and Gareth MacAuley’s contract expiring we need defensive reinforcements to compete for places with Nikola Katic and Connor Goldson.
It’s going to be a difficult transfer window for us as we look to sign a first-team quality centre half, with richer clubs in bigger leagues around Europe shopping in the same pool.