Rangers “keen” on South American World Cup defender

Rangers will add quality in January, if Michael Beale gets his way that is, but one area that few would expect to see additions is at centre-half.

Strangely though, that is where we have seen recent rumours, Jake Cooper who was a target before we signed Filip Helander, Dion Sanderson and now Royal Antwerp’s William Pacho all being linked with a move to Ibrox.

#RangersFC en #ASMonaco hebben Willian Pacho van #RAFC al meermaals gescout en willen de verdediger graag aanwerven. Antwerp zal de hoofdprijs willen, wat logisch is. Zie @nieuwsbladsport.

— Pieter-Jan Calcoen (@PJCalcoen) January 3, 2023

The Ecuador international was at the World Cup, however, he didn’t see any game time as his country exited at the group stages. Get Belgian and Dutch Football news claims that we are keen on the youngster.

Rangers and Monaco keen on Antwerp’s William Pacho (21). (HNB)https://t.co/oAYEnj1wwJ

— Get Belgian & Dutch Football News (@GBeNeFN) January 3, 2023

Belgium is a market that we have shopped in before and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he is on Ross Wilson’s radar, there are though, only a few reasons why we might be entertaining the idea of strengthening at the back.

What it would suggest, if we are in the market for another defender, is that James Sands won’t be around beyond this season and that Leon King isn’t being considered as senior quite yet – he might even be lined up for a loan move to continue his development.

Helander won’t be offered a new contract and will leave at the end of this season which leaves Ben Davies and Connor Goldson as first choice and John Souttar and King backing up next year.

The other factor may be that Souttar’s injury problems are going to affect his availability long term and that we need an additional body to prevent the situation we had earlier this season when we ended up with two midfielders playing in the heart of defence.

A centre-half won’t be at the top of Beale’s shopping list but, after seeing what Giovanni van Bronckhorst had to cope with earlier this season, maybe it should be.