The centre-half department at Rangers has been one that, last season, didn’t look like it needed any fine tuning, now though, we might see a complete overhaul in the summer.
Connor Goldson is expected to leave at the end of his contract, Niko Katic is out on loan and out of favour, Jack Simpson so far down the pecking order that Giovanni van Bronckhorst started John Lundstram ahead of him and both Filip Helander and Leon Balogun continue to have injury troubles that make their availability from week-to-week a lottery – we need to have at least three senior defenders that can be relied upon.
There is no doubting Balogun and Helander’s quality but with them being available for a combine 60% of league matches it’s say to see what the issue is, John Souttar’s arrival will help but, he will only offset Goldson’s departure.
Ross Wilson saw a failed bid for Danilho Doekhi in the January window and he should now be making every effort to prioritise his signing in the summer on a free, however, as Vital Rangers has spoken about in the past, his current centre-half partner should also be on our radar.
Riechedly Bazoer is a Dutch international and is also capable of playing in midfield, he is the one that is most similar to Goldson in terms of what he offers in possession if not quite as dominant physically, however, on a free transfer, getting a player of his calibre would be something of a coup.
With Balogun out of contract in the summer, much of his renewal will depend on who we can bring in, I love the big Nigerian but it’s so frustrating that his body is beginning to let him down, a group of Helander, Souttar, Bazoer and Doekhi would have an excellent mix of qualities and would probably see him released at the end of this season.
Being able to sign players like Doekhi and Bazoer on free transfers would save a fortune and allow money to be spent elsewhere, it would also soften the blow of losing one of the first names on our team-sheet for nothing, sometimes transfers just makes sense and the Dutch duo’s names should both be near the top of our sporting director’s summer wish list.