Rangers are heading in a new direction in terms of the player trading model with Nils Koppen and Philippe Clement singing off the same song sheet.
In January, all of the players who arrived at Ibrox were of a similar profile and it was obvious that a change was afoot.
The five players who left Rangers at the end of the season have been replaced by five younger and more dynamic signings in Óscar Cortes, Connor Barron, Jefte, Clinton Nsiala and Hamza Igamane.
Mohamed Diomande is the direction that Rangers need to go
One player who can be added to that group is Mohamed Diomande whose signing was officially confirmed when the summer transfer window opened.
The initial six-month loan deal was a formality ahead of his transfer to Rangers becoming permanent.
Looking at the short and long term, Diomande is the poster boy for the type of signing Rangers should be making.
Speaking when Diomande signed, Philippe Clement described almost what every new arrival should sound like:
“Everybody is really pleased because he was one of the biggest prospects in Scandinavia and there were a lot of teams interested in him. He is still a young player, but he has a lot of experience also. He was really interested in the project here and we had a lot of talks about that.
“It is a long-term signing and that is not easy to do in January so I am delighted that the club could do that. He is really versatile, he is a good technical player with a lot of running capacity, he is still developing in strength, but I think we can make him stronger here.”
Diomande dreams of emulating his footballing hero
As Clement says, Diomande is very versatile.
At Nordsjaelland he played as a more attack minded midfielder whereas at Rangers, he has been deployed almost solely as a number eight and a box-to-box midfielder.
On his debut for the Ivory Coast, he came off the bench to play as a number six.
Diomande’s technical ability allows him to play anywhere, much like his hero Yaya Toure.
The former Barcelona and Man City legend was seen throughout his career playing everywhere down the middle of the pitch.
The £4.3m signing even shares his number as an homage as explained to Rangers TV:
“Yaya Toure was so good when he was at Man City.
“A different level of midfielder, he was scoring goals, he was very technical also.
“I enjoyed watching him a lot, he was one of the people I was looking up to when I was young and I want to do similar things and what I can do.”
As far as role models go, Toure is as good as they come.
The complete midfielder at his peak and one of the best of his era.
Diomande maybe isn’t quite as powerfully built as Toure was but he has the frame and technical ability to play at whatever level he wants.
With a full pre-season under his belt and better players in front of him, Diomande – like Toure throughout his career – could be the one Clement builds his team around.
