Rangers have announced the appointment of Belgian-Moroccan coach Issame Charai as assistant manager to Philippe Clement.
News broke earlier in the day about the Rangers move for Charai, who had been working with the Strasbourg management team.
Rangers have now officially confirmed the move for Issame Charai, who will replace Dutch coach Andries Ulderink at Ibrox.
But it’s not just Charai’s impressive coaching credentials that should have Rangers fans excited as he takes up a job alongside Philippe Clement.
Rangers coach has history with Oussama Targhalline
Given Issame Charai was once the Morocco U23s coach, we wonder if he might have a role to play in Rangers’ pursuit of Moroccan wonderkid Oussama Targhalline.
Targhalline, 22, is out of contract at Ligue 1 club Le Havre at the end of the season and is yet to put pen to paper over a new contract.
Back in the summer Rangers were linked with a move for Targhalline by reputable French outlet L’Equipe.
The midfielder is young, talented and appears to fit the Rangers player trading model of buy low, sell high, especially given the player is out contract this summer.
With Hamza Igamane already in situ at Ibrox, and Issame Charai joining as coach, perhaps Oussama Targhalline can be convinced by the growing Moroccan contingent in Scotland.
Especially since it was the former Marseille midfielder who scored an injury-time winner in the first half of extra time for Charai’s young Moroccans to lift the U23s AFCON in 2023.
Issame Charai coaching history
Issame Charai was born in Belgium but is of Moroccan heritage.
A former player, the Moroccan spent all of his playing days in Belgian football turning out most notably for K.V. Mechelen and Sint-Truidense V.V.
Moving into coaching in 2012, the 42-year-old has an interesting C.V which has seen him coach in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Belgium and France.
Charai has worked closely with Belgian coach Marc Brys throughout his career, joining the current Cameroon manager in stints across the globe.
Charai worked under Brys at Al-Faisaly in Saudi, before following the Belgian to Beerschot, Sint-Truidense and OH Leuven.
Issame Charai then had a stint in charge of the Morocco U23s, guiding the young Atlas Lions to the under-23 African Cup of Nations title in the summer of 2023.
Charai left the Morocco U23s in February 2024, therefore missing the nation’s bronze medal run to the semi-final of the Olympics.
The coach has been working under Liam Rosenior at Strasbourg, who have close links with Chelsea, and Charai’s coaching history certainly makes interesting reading.
