Rangers are close to adding extra quality to their starting line-up with the news that Amiens midfielder, Bongani Zungu, is set to sign after the two clubs agreed a fee believed to be in the region of £3.5million.
The South African international has been linked for some time but, despite his pedigree, former Gers star, Alan Hutton, speaking to Football Insider, has his doubts about the deal.
So what has Hutton said?
When asked to reflect on what would be Rangers second biggest outlay in over ten years following the signing of Ryan Kent last summer, he said:
“We’re talking around £4million for a player who’s been relegated, one year left on his contract – it’s a bit steep, I would think.
“I don’t know too much about him but I know that the scouting system has worked really well at Rangers so to be forking out that amount of money for a player, I’m not so sure if it’s the right thing to do.
“They obviously see something in him they like, he’s an international player, he’s played at a high level so you’d like to think he can come in and do a job – we don’t know exactly how he’s going to settle in so I would see that one as a bit of a gamble.”
So is Hutton correct?
Every signing is a gamble, some of the best players in the world have changed clubs and seen a dramatic loss of form – Fernando Torres to Chelsea or Juan Sebastian Veron to Manchester United spring to mind but unfortunately, if Steven Gerrard wants to improve his starting XI, he will have to invest decent money.
Zungu has 24-caps and played in major tournaments for South Africa, he also has experience of playing in the top flight in Portugal and France, leagues of a substantially higher quality than the Scottish Premiership.
That clubs of the level of Celta Vigo and Strasbourg have also been interested in the midfielder demonstrate the quality of player Rangers are potentially getting and given the money being talked about, he will be expected to improve Gerrard’s side almost immediately.
With money tighter than ever, Ross Wilson and the scouting team know that every penny is a prisoner and has to be well spent, they must be trusted to have done their due diligence on Zungu with such a large percentage of the transfer budget being spent on one player, and only at the season’s end will they be able to assess whether or not they have made the right call with the Bafana Bafana star facing a level of scrutiny he’ll never have faced before.