This season has highlighted more than ever that Rangers need extra quality at centre-half, not only that, but they need to be available every week.
Leon Balogun and Filip Helander were outstanding last season when they were rotated in our title winning season but this season they have been unavailable more often than not with Calvin Bassey having to play a large part of the campaign in the middle.
John Souttar has been added but he’s hardly got the greatest reputation in terms of resilience which makes signing Danilho Doekhi even more important and the Vitesse Arnhem stopper has been speaking, via Voetbalzone, about his future and where he sees his future after reports emerged about a late January bid from Rangers was knocked back:
“I have remained fairly calm about it, I know what I have in mind. I did not just want to leave Vitesse in the winter. I do not see the winter as the ideal time to make a transfer.
“Of course, if a good opportunity comes along you can not let it go. But we play European, are still in the cup tournament and are doing well in the league. I knew I wanted to finish the season here.
“I prefer to participate in the preparation with a new team. Maybe I will go to another country, those are big changes. You have less time in winter than in summer.”
Initially it looked as though James Sands had been brought in to provide cover in defence but he has played all of his minutes in midfield so far and with Connor Goldson being our most important and most dependable centre-half in terms of availability we really need to get someone in who can be relied upon to play every week in case the vice-captain doesn’t renew his contract.
We’ve not quite put all our eggs in Doekhi’s basket but signing him would certainly make me feel a lot more comfortable going into next season if Goldson does decide to leave, having three senior centre-halves with the recent injury histories of Souttar, Balogun and Helander is enough to cause even the most optimistic of Rangers fans sleepless nights.