It’s maybe a question for the pub or for social media but, asking the Rangers sporting director “why didn’t we sign any Dutch players when we had Giovanni van Bronckhorst as manager” is probably one that isn’t for the club’s AGM.
Ross Wilson felt obliged to answer the question having come under fire for other signings and his recent record, giving away perhaps more than the delegate would have expected seeing as that we normally don’t get a straight response from the head of recruitment, as reported by The Herald:
“The manager has the final say on transfers and every player that comes in. We agreed terms with one Dutch player who then chose another club.”
We have only really seen three Dutch players linked with one in particular, publicly, revealing that he was aware of our interest. Riechedly Bazoer, Joey Veerman and Danilho Doekhi were all mentioned, however, only the latter seemed to be a realistic option given his profile – the Netherlands Under-21 international having chosen to sign for Bundesliga outfit Union Berlin instead.
That Wilson uses the phrase “agreed terms” suggests that it is a player who was available on a pre-contract and both Doekhi and Bazoer were in this situation in January, what a difference either centre-halves would have made to a squad that was decimated in terms of defensive cover before the World Cup break.
What the AGM confirmed is that it isn’t just one individual who is responsible for making our signings and that the manager will always have a say, what it has also shown is that persuading players to come to Scotland isn’t always an easy task when competing with “smaller” teams from the top five leagues.