Barry Ferguson predicts 'big bids' will soon come for Rangers star, thinks he'll cost at least £10m
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The nature of modern football is that, for a club in Rangers’ shoes, buying low and selling high is no longer merely a policy but a necessity.
Fortunately, Rangers may just have secured their financial future for years to come with Hamza Igamane.
Ask yourself this; How much would the Premiership giants earn, right here, right now, if they were to sell the prolific centre-forward before the close of the January transfer window? Igamane already has Premier League admirers in Everton.
Ibrox legend Barry Ferguson can envisage Igamane commanding a fee in the region of £10 million already, and that still feels a little on the low side of things.
Imagine, then, how much the 22-year-old Moroccan will cost another few months, or maybe even another few years, down the line.
Philippe Clement knows that Igamane is unlikely to see out the prime of his career in Glasgow. With nine goals in just 12 league starts now, the message to Rangers fans is simple; Enjoy him while you can.
Ferguson certainly will.
Barry Ferguson thinks Rangers could make at least £10m from Hamza Igamane
“In an ideal world, Igamane is the kind of player you build a team around for years and years to come,” Ferguson tells the Daily Record. “But there has to be a sense of realism where the club's current position is concerned.
“Rangers are a selling club. And, like it or not, that means they may soon be made an offer which they can't possibly turn down.
“Just to be clear, I don't think that'll happen during the January transfer window. That would be way too soon. But, again, it's important to remain realistic. And the realist inside me expects some big bids to start arriving over the coming summer.
“Let's not forget, this is a kid Rangers signed for £1.5m. If someone out there is prepared to pay around £10m – or maybe even more than that – for him within 12 months, then that's exactly the model Rangers need.
“The challenge at that point is to have already identified the next Igamane and to have him lined up as the Moroccan's replacement.”
Old Firm rivals Celtic have become masters of selling their prized assets and replacing them with footballers of a similar level of talent.
While The Hoops once had Jota, Matt O’Riley and Josip Juranovic, for instance, Parkhead is now home to Nicolas Kuhn, Arne Engels and Alistair Johnston. Rangers, though they won’t want to admit it, could certainly take some inspiration from their Glasgow neighbours.
Ferguson says Igamane has shades of Michael Mols
Hamza Igamane has been likened to Alfredo Morelos ever since touching down in Glasgow, meanwhile. Not only due to his fearsome physicality and his eye for the spectacular, but also his bargain transfer fee and the fact he arrived as pretty much an unknown from one of football’s more untapped markets.
But while Morelos was all about El Bufalo brutality, Igamane is something rather more easy on the eye.
Ferguson thinks a more fitting comparison, with the former RAF Rabat, is his one-time Ibrox teammate Michael Mols; As stylish a centre-forward as Scotland has seen this side of the Millennium.
“I have to admit, I'm getting Mikey Mols flashbacks every time I see Hamza Igamane pull on a Rangers shirt,” Ferguson adds. “I'm not for one minute saying that Igamane is on the same level as Michael was at his peak. There's a long, long way for the young man to go before he gets there.
“But I do see glimpses of Michael every time I watch Igamane play. The wee flicks, the mad things he does – he'll chest the ball, keep it up four times on his head and then backheel it somebody – and the clinical way he finishes chances in front of goal.
The boy is a natural and I can't get enough of watching the way he goes about his business. I enjoy his unpredictability. You just don't have a clue what he's going to do next or where he's going to pop up and that must make him a defender's nightmare to play against.
“He's certainly not your average No.9. And that's probably why I see the comparisons with Mikey.”
