Rangers midfield looked good against Celtic, however, Michael Beale still needs reinforcements and Dimitrios Kourbelis could still be the man he is after.
A widely reported scouting mission to Greece could have been for a number of targets.
Recent news coming from Champions League qualifiers Panathanaikos though suggests that they might not be confident of keeping hold of their skipper Dimitrios Kourbelis with Rangers rumoured to be sniffing about.
According to Transfer Geeks, Pana are looking to bring back former captain and midfielder Carlos Zeka to the club with his Copenhagen contract set to expire.
“Former Panathinaikos footballer Carlos Zeka is expected to return to Panathinaikos after the end of his contract with Copenhagen.
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“After his many years of presence in the Danish team, Zeka remains free as he is now in his 34th year of age.
“All that remains for the former captain of the “clover” to return to Panathinaikos is the final “ok” from the coach of the “greens”, Ivan Jovanovic.”
Why would Panathanaikos need to sign an experienced midfielder with leadership qualities, unless of course, they are losing their own.
Dimitrios Kourbelis currently has the Greens armband and played alongside Zeka some years ago but there are doubts about his own future and Rangers could still be an option.
Why would Dimitrios Kourbelis be a Rangers target?
Rangers have been linked with a move for the 29-year old Greece international for some time and, as a specialist defensive midfielder, he is the missing piece of Michael Beale’s midfield puzzle.
Dimitrios Kourbelis would be able to rotate with or cover Ryan Jack who showed against Celtic how important he still is for Rangers.
The Scotland international will have played around 35 games by the end of the season which will be a decent return considering he wasn’t fully fit at the start of the season.
Realistically, if the Light Blues can get 40 or more games out of Jack a year he will remain a key component of Michael Beale’s squad.
With Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin impressing, Kieran Dowell expected to sign, all that is missing is an out-and-out defensive midfielder.
On a free transfer, Dimitrios Kourbelis, with 30 Greece caps, ticks a lot of boxes for Rangers and the latest rumour suggests that Pana are preparing for life without their inspirational skipper.
His next destination could well be Ibrox.