Rangers should relaunch £5.8m summer bid for Brazilian talent as transfer need grows: view
Yesterday at 09:15 AM
Rangers are on the hunt for a new centre-back this January as injury strips the Ibrox side's defensive options down to the bare bones.
Rangers already had limited defensive options this season with John Souttar's availability and immense form a driving force at the heart of the defence.
But with Souttar now sidelined for 'several weeks', Rangers are also counting the cost of a season-ending injury to Neraysho Kasanwirjo.
The versatile Dutchman has been sent back to Feyenoord for the time being and whilst Rangers retain a transfer interest in Kasanwirjo, options are now limited.
Leon Balogun and Robin Propper will be expected to hold the fort until January but when the winter transfer window rolls around, could the club revisit a failed summer move for a samba star?
Rangers summer move for Kaiky Fernandes
Cast your mind back to the summer transfer window and you will remember Rangers attempting to make moves to sign a new central defender.
Panamanian centre-back Jose Cordoba had been given the Ibrox treatment but the Gers pulled out of a deal with Norwich City hovering.
But the Canaries defender wasn't the only one attracting the attentions of Nils Koppen and co with Brazilian centre-back Kaiky Fernandes another name strongly linked.
As the transfer window wound to a close, Fabrizio Romano claimed that Rangers had launched a loan-to-buy bid to sign Kaiky from Spanish side Almeria.
But the deal fell apart after Rangers refused to meet Almeria's hefty demands on the 20-year-old, for whom they paid €10m (£8.3m) to sign from Santos in 2022.
The story goes that Rangers had offered a €750k (£650k) loan fee with a €7m (£5.8m) future fee and 30% sell on to tempt the Liga Segunda side to sell.
Spanish outlet Ideal later reported that Rangers' offer for Kaiky was around 70% of what Almeria paid to sign the defender two and a half years ago.
Rangers hunt centre-back transfer
Since those links to Rangers, Kaiky Fernandes has played a bit part role in Almeria's La Liga promotion push this season.
With Almeria 2nd in Liga Segunda, Kaiky has started seven out of 20 league matches this season following a loan spell at Alcabete last campaign.
The defender is clearly highly-rated and being only 20-years-old has plenty of time to grow into one of those impervious Brazilian centre-backs we've seen over the years.
But with chances limited at Almeria, and Rangers reportedly targeting a new centre-back this January, we wonder if this a deal the Ibrox side might consider revisiting.
Rangers have an increasingly Brazilian contingent in their ranks in Glasgow, with left-back Jefte and striker Danilo beginning to win over the support.
