Rangers looks set to improve the midfield in this transfer window with Todd Cantwell already on board and Nicolas Raskin, surely, only a matter of days away from being paraded.
As yet though, we haven’t really signed a proper number, there are players like Tom Lawrence, Malik Tillman, Ianis Hagi and now Cantwell that can do the job, however, none of them have made their name in the position.
As always, on hand to run the rule over potential options is Patrick Caskie, who has provided scouting reports for The Rangers Review and This is Ibrox in the past and, given a blank cheque, he has indicated who he would want us to bring in – not only that, but he has provided graphics that explain exactly what we could expect.
Mohamed Romdhane will not be a name that most are familiar with but this shouldn’t put us off, as Caskie explains.
My Cart-Blanche signing would be Mohamed Romdhane from Esperance Tunis could play any of the Jack/Arfield/Aribo roles. pic.twitter.com/ZWIHbk9lxn
— Patrick Caskie (@patrickcaskie) January 13, 2022
Even to the untrained eye, it’s clear that Romdhane fits the profile of a “proper” number eight, capable of contributing at both ends of the park, but, how does he compare to our current midfielders?
Malik TIllman
Glen Kamara
Ryan Jack
Scott Arfield
Romdhane, as Caskie explains, is available on a pre-contract agreement just now with Lens and Ferencvaros said to be interested but there is no reason why we shouldn’t be too.
With 23-caps for Tunisia, the 6ft tall midfielder is ready to progress at club level in terms of the league he is playing in and, without the need to pay a transfer fee, he is worth the risk. Already this season, hthat has just kicked off, he has four goals in six games.
When you look at his output, he almost matches our best defensive midfielder out of possession but also isn’t far away from Tillman in terms of attacking statistics, an indicator that, depending on game state, he can adjust to the pattern of the game.
Players of this type always come with an element of the unknown given the league that they are playing in but, on this occasion, we should make an exception – Patrick’s strike rate suggests that we will be missing out on a bargain if we don’t.