One down, one to go.
The rebuild or tweaking of Rangers defence saw John Souttar signed up for a summer move but this doesn’t mean that the long-term pursuit of Danilho Doekhi has gone cold.
The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell has claimed that we are in a “strong position” to add the Vitesse Arnhem centre-half as well which looks to spell the end for a few members of the current squad.
A few months ago the picture looked entirely different and when Leon Balogun was, arguably, our best defender, nobody would have complained if he was given an extension to his contract, however, with Calvin Bassey’s form, Filip Helander still under contract, Souttar signed and Doekhi possibly on the way, it doesn’t look good for the affable Nigerian and that’s not including Connor Goldson signing a new deal.
There is also no chance of Niko Katic or Jack Simpson being seen in a Rangers shirt again, the players coming in are an instant upgrade on both of the out of favour centre-halves, if we get decent fees for the pair we will be doing well.
It would be nice, but it’s not essential, to get both of Souttar and Doekhi in early, if we retain our Scottish Premiership title there wouldn’t be the same rush to get them up to speed competitively in Champions League qualifiers – we saw all too well what can happen this season if you go into these games half cooked.
Ross Wilson has followed up the appointment of Giovanni van Bronckhorst with a couple of very shrewd signings in James Sands and Souttar, if Doekhi is announced next then he can be very happy with his work so far, especially when you consider the money made in the deal that saw Nathan Patterson move to Everton and Leon King extending his contract – he’s gradually ticking the boxes off one, by, one. If he is relaxed, then we should be too.