In the quiet of the winter break Rangers fans have been occupied by who might or might not be coming to Ibrox during the January transfer window.
It’s been well documented that Rangers are one of a few teams that are hoping to sign John Souttar with the 25-year old yet to make a decision as to where he will next play his football.
Analysts as well as fans have had a bit more time on their hands of late and Andy Forrester of Ai Abacus, who has worked for the likes of Opta and Prozone, knows a thing or two about crunching numbers and has been on the search for the next Virgil Van Dijk.
Tried to copy Virgil Van Dijk’s Player Traits 📊to find promising CBs + found these:
Igor Diveev – CSKA
Joseph Okumu – Gent
Mykola Matviyenko – ShakhtarTraits: possession security, 1st contact in air, win tackles, low fouls, good unit, rarely beaten 1v1, play frwd, block shots pic.twitter.com/od13ZinPbT
— Andy Forrester (@AndyForrester1) January 11, 2022
Former Gers target Joseph Okumu’s name came up but, interestingly, Souttar’s name was also on the list when looking for central defenders who met the profile of the Liverpool stopper.
If you remove aggression/making no fouls from the search, it adds a few noticeable names
Jean-Clair Todibo – Nice
Jack Whatmough – Wigan
Jérôme Onguéné – Salzburg
Rubin Seigers – Westerlo
John Souttar – Hearts
Joel Abu Hanna – Legia Warsaw pic.twitter.com/yqScMVoymw— Andy Forrester (@AndyForrester1) January 11, 2022
Looking for “promising” rather than established players, Forrester looked for the following skills; possession security, first contact in the air, wins tackles, low fouls, part of a good unit, rarely beaten 1v1, plays forward and blocks shots.
Basically, a defender capable of doing it all, solid defensively and comfortable on the ball.
We’ve seen Souttar compared to Connor Goldson recently and he measures up well, fans who still doubt his ability to step up a level should watch his performance against Denmark for Scotland both in and out of possession – yes, it’s a one off game but he showed exactly what he is capable of against better opposition with a higher standard of team-mate.
— Patrick Caskie (@patrickcaskie) January 10, 2022
Nobody knows for certain if a signing will be a success or not but some are more obvious ones to make than others, for Souttar it would appear the question make of how much game time he will get could be the deciding factor rather than any question about his ability.
Rangers should go for Danillo Doekti and not wait till the summer as he will be a class act to follow and we would get the best out of him plus he wants to play for Glasgow Rangers and Gio Van Bronckhorst