Manager opens door for Rangers to sign £20m ace Steven Gerrard called 'a fantastic talent'
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It’s fair to say the dazzling form Amad Diallo is displaying now at Manchester United is in stark contrast to his performances north of the border at Rangers.
The Ivory Coast international was only 19 when he arrived at Ibrox back in January 2022 on a short-term loan deal.
And while he won’t be winning any bodybuilding contests these days either, Amad’s diminutive frame saw him bullied by the more physical of the Scottish Premiership defenders. The pace and power of the domestic game a little too much for this waifish winger.
But could Carney Chukwuemeka thrive where Amad, well, not failed, but let’s say struggled?
Rangers News have been exclusively told that Chelsea have offered Rangers the chance to sign Chukwuemeka on loan, three years after Manchester United did the same with Amad.
At 6ft 2ins, and considering the broadness of his shoulders, it is not out of the realms of possibility that Chukwuemeka crosses Hadrian’s Wall and immediately settles into Rangers blue in the way Amad never really did.
A couple of years back, after watching the then-Aston Villa wonderkid in action for England’s Under 19 side, The Mastermind Site highlighted Chukwuemeka’s ‘extraordinary physicality’ as well as his ‘superb technical quality’, after all.
Rangers offered Carney Chukwuemeka chance as Chelsea boss speaks out
Flash forward to the present day, and with Chukwuemeka very much on the fringes at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has now hinted that the £20 million reserve will indeed be allowed to depart on a temporary basis.
Whether this is an opportunity Rangers take up, however, is anyone’s guess.
“There are players that, unfortunately, didn’t play a lot with us in all the competitions like [Ben] Chilwell, like Carney,” Maresca said during his Friday press conference.
“Probably they are the first [to say] that they want to leave because they train every day, because they want to play games. And, if they don’t play games, probably they are thinking of leaving.
“Each player is a bit [of a] different situation. So we’re going to see if some of them are coming and knocking on the door to say ‘I want to leave’ or something like that.
“We will try to find a solution.”
- READ MORE:Rangers Transfer History 2016-Present
Steven Gerrard really liked Chukwuemeka at Aston Villa
One of the most promising talents in British football during his Aston Villa days, that big-money move to London has backfired a little for Chukwuemeka. The Austria-born 21-year-old has not even been included in any of Chelsea’s Premier League squads this term, with his minutes coming only in the EFL Cup and the Europa Conference League.
One-time Rangers boss Steven Gerrard worked with Chukwuemeka briefly at Villa Park. And it didn’t take the Liverpool legend long to realise what all the fuss was about.
“We believe in him and we trust him,” Gerrard said at the time. “He's a fantastic talent and there's still a lot of growth and evolving for him to do.
“You can see his profile. You can see his quality. He will score many goals, [and] he'll create many goals because he's that type of talent.”
Rangers News have also been told that Rangers are watching Marko Soldo of Croatian outfit NK Osijek. Romania international Darius Olaru has been linked with a move to Ibrox again, meanwhile.
