Very rarely in football do opportunities to make signings that tick every box in terms of finance, availability and quality come along but, with Rangers looking for a new striker, there is one name that makes an awful lot of sense.
When Rangers signed Alfredo Morelos it was because the scouting team at the time had been tasked with finding a player who was within our budget but shared similar characteristics with Robert Lewandowski, now, with us looking for someone to challenge and potentially replace the Colombian international, who better than someone who has likened his own style of play to the prolific Bayern Munich striker.
Erik Botheim was coveted by a lot of clubs across Europe when he left Bodo/Glimt and a few eyebrows were raised when he chose Krasnodar in Russia, however, because of the current situation he has been able to rip up his contract and become a free agent as reported by his agent:
“Erik Botheim has terminated his contract with Krasnodar with immediate effect.
“Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine is still ongoing. And in all the circumstances, Erik considered he had no other choice.”
This leaves the 22-year old without a club from the 1st of July, this season he had seven goals and six assists in 14 appearances before it was cut short and 22 goals and 10 assists in 46 games for Bodo/Glimt – his numbers, like Morelos’s, are very impressive for one so young.
At over 6ft tall, Botheim can handle himself physically too, however, his four goals and four assists in the Europa Conference League group stage – including a man of the match performance against eventual winners Roma – demonstrates that he can adapt to a more technical game.
In short, this would be some signing if Ross Wilson could pull it off, a player whose value is only going in one direction and who would be able to make an immediate impact for the club, yes, he won’t be short of offers, but one of them should be from us.