There is going to be speculation on an almost daily basis about who is going to be replacing Connor Goldson at the heart of the Rangers defence, Ross Wilson is not one to leave things to the last minute so it would be a surprise if an announcement isn’t made in January, one way, or the other.
With the vice-captain likely to leave on a free transfer, it means that his replacement will probably arrive on one to negating any losses that may have been made, however, I’d argue that for £3million and hardly a minute missed, Goldson has been worth every penny – for those still doubting him, just look at the state of the defence when he was unavailable for Sparta Prague.
Last summer Rangers were linked with Danilho Doekhi at Vitesse Arnhem and yet, he isn’t the only centre-half at the Eredivisie side that is worth a look.
His defensive partner Riechedly Bazoer is also out of contract at the end of the 2022 season and, if anything, has a better pedigree than his younger team-mate, marshalling his defence to an excellent clean sheet on Thursday night against Tottenham Hotspur..
Once valued at over £13.5m, the six times Dutch cap started his career at Ajax before moving to Wolfsburg and the Bundesliga for a fee believed to be over £10m before returning to the Netherlands in 2019, a loan spell at Porto in between.
At 25-years old he is at a good age for a centre-half and for all that he is “only” just over 6ft tall, he makes up for this with his ability on the ball, being comfortable as a defensive midfielder as well – for a team that dominates possession, having someone who is willing to step into midfield could be a big benefit.
Bazoer’s availability is another indicator that there is life after Goldson and that there are options available that won’t break the bank – if anything, they might even be an improvement.