Towards the end of 2024, Rangers’ technical director Nils Koppen offered a peak behind the curtain into the club’s transfer market strategy.
After Celtic had enjoyed considerable success signing players from far-flung markets – particularly Japan, of course – it’s now Rangers’ turn to cast their net a little wider in pursuit of the sort of bargain buys those at Ibrox have often been criticised for letting slip under their radar.
‘It’s important to look all over the globe’, Koppen said. Rangers need to ‘think outside the box’, the former PSV Eindhoven talentspotter added, and be ‘creative’ with players in more high-profile markets simply too expensive these days even for one of Scotland’s more deep-pocketed clubs.
Koppen uses Hamza Igamane and Jefte – brought in from Morocco and Brazil respectively for a combined fee of less than £3 million – as prime examples of the sort of value that can be found when looking a little further afield.
Igamane, at just £1.7 million, is shaping up to be one of Rangers’ best pound-for-pound signings in recent memory. Though he did not find the net as Rangers hammered Celtic 3-0 at Ibrox on Thursday, he bullied Brendan Rodgers’ backline throughout.
At the other end, Jefte kept Celtic’s usually irrepressible Nicolas Kuhn quiet while playing a major role in Danilo’s late clincher.
And Ally McCoist, the Rangers legend revelling in a remarkable and very unexpected Old Firm derby obliteration, could not help but notice a multicultural feel to Clement’s side.
Ally McCoist highlights ‘incredible’ stat as Rangers hammer Celtic
In addition to their Moroccan striker and their Brazilian left-back, Rangers also brought in an Albanian playmaker, a Czech winger, and Ivorian midfielder and a Dutch centre-back last summer.
Koppen said Rangers needed to look beyond the UK borders for good value signings, and that strategy may finally be paying off.
“What about that for a performance!” McCoist beams.
“Rangers were absolutely excellent! Did you know Rangers’ starting line up had eleven different nationalities? That is incredible isn’t it?”
Ianis Hagi capped a ‘sensational’ display with the opening goal just seven minutes in, before Propper opened his Rangers account in the second-half and Danilo swept home the third off the bench.
This was Philippe Clement’s first Old Firm derby triumph at the seventh attempt. And, considering the pressure he has been under of late, it could hardly have come at a better time.
“I was delighted for [Clement],” McCoist adds. “Brendan’s record in old firm games is absolutely remarkable so its a big result for Rangers and particularly the manager. You could see it in the interview after the game.
“I think the surprise really was the margin of the victory and the gap between the two teams.”
Of course, this will count for little if Rangers slip up at Hibernian on Sunday. Their away record has been pretty poor all season long – dropping points against St Mirren and Motherwell in their final outings of 2024 – and it would be typical of the Clement era really if one big step forwards was followed by two in the other direction.
Philippe Clement wants Rangers to build on Old Firm statement
“Every opponent has a different kind of playing football. [The challenge] is always different but it doesn’t mean we need to drop these points,” Clement said on Friday.
“[Our recent slip-ups were] about individual mistakes we made. It was not about structure or [not] doing the right things as a team. It was about chasing the game.
“[We must learn] not to chase the game by getting in a rush, being calm and cool and doing what we’ve been doing to create the chances and then to be efficient with these chances. Those are things to learn.
“When you are young, you’re less in control. You’re in a rush when you need to solve something or you go behind. These are experiences they need to learn and its our job to help them in that way, with the experienced guys also.
“Every team becomes together by playing together and getting more experience together. The momentum of games you cannot predict but you can predict the playing style.”
