'How have Rangers not signed him': Pundit cannot believe Celtic star is not at Ibrox
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As Hamza Igamane fired home his first Scottish Premiership hat-trick, Rangers’ transfer policy had seldom looked smarter.
A policy, technical director Nils Koppen explains, which centres around finding value in less utilised markets. Hamza Igamane arrived at Ibrox for just £1.7 million when leaving Moroccan football, after all.
Jefte, Rangers’ swashbuckling left-back, cost even less. And, as the season progresses, the additions of Nedim Bajrami and even the much-maligned Dutch defender brought in for a cut-price fee of £1.5 million – Robin Propper produced his best Rangers display against Celtic in last week’s Old Firm derby thrashing – are starting to look like decent value.
This is not to say the Glasgow giants have closed the door to domestic deals, however.
While only two of Rangers’ last 20 signings arrived from rival Premiership clubs – Connor Barron from Aberdeen and Liam Kelly from Motherwell – that does not mean that all of their transfer activity is destined place outside of UK borders from here on in.
Koppen insists that he and Philippe Clement will still look to sign ‘the best talents of Scotland', as Andy Halliday urges Rangers to bring in Dundee duo Lyall Cameron and Josh Mulligan on pre-contract arrangements.
But to the tune of a reported £1 million, have Rangers already missed the boat in terms of the best value-for-money deal in Scottish football?
Rangers told they should have rivalled Celtic for Luke McCowan
Tony Watt, a teammate of Halliday’s at Motherwell, cannot fathom why The Gers stood idly by and let rivals Celtic snap up the masterful Luke McCowan from Dundee for nearly one fifth of the fee Koppen paid for Mo Diomande.
“How have Rangers not signed Luke McCowan?,” Watt wonders. “I know he is a Celtic fan but how have they not even tested the water? How well is he doing for Celtic?
“How have Rangers not gone in [for McCowan over the summer]?”
McCowan has only started six Premiership matches under Brendan Rodgers. Yet, in that time, he has three goals and three assists to his name, ensuring that Celtic can call upon one of the finest midfield talents in the entire division when they need to rest and rotate.
Philippe Clement can only dream of such depth at Rangers, even if those in blue do have the luxury of leaving the likes of Barron, Cyriel Dessers, Oscar Cortes and Rabbi Matondo on the bench these days, like they did at Hibernian.
- READ MORE:Rangers Transfer History 2016-Present
Rangers told to sign Dundee duo Lyall Cameron and Josh Mulligan
Rangers face Dundee on Thursday evening.
As far as Halliday is concerned, this should be something of an audition for Campbell and Mulligan, the former scoring eight times from midfield and the latter a non-stop, one-man Duracell bunny down the right-hand flank.
"It's a sad state. It's in January when you're saying this but the league is done. The league has been done for a while," Halliday says, Saturday's collapse at Easter Road extending the gap at the top of the table to 13 points.
"[Rangers] just need to prepare a squad, whether it's depth, quality, line up players for the summer and try to do as much business as they can.
"Pre contracts! Two players I would sign right now; Lyall Cameron and Josh Mulligan. Honestly, I would sign the two of them.
"Mulligan is an athletic monster, I am signing him. I am signing the two of them on pre-contracts. [Koppen] mentioned homegrown talent. See your Mulligans and Lyall Camerons, I'm not saying signing them is going to win Rangers the league.
“But see what [Luke] McCowan is doing for Celtic, get them two boys for proper squad depth, they will play games and do well for you."
