Chances are plenty of Rangers fans won’t have known who Hamza Igamane was before news of transfer interest in the striker broke.
The Moroccan hitman, 21, has spent his entire career in North Africa and news of a £1.7m Rangers bid sent fans frantically clacking keyboards and phone screens.
But the man who will have helped identify Igamane knows all about the talent which originates in Morocco with the Atlas Lions the region’s most developed footballing country.
A run to the World Cup Semi Finals in Qatar points to a footballing nation with plenty of talent and it should be unsurprising to see Nils Koppen dig around Rabat.
Especially given the Rangers director of recruitment has already had plenty of success with one footballer from the region who is all too familiar to Ibrox fans.
Koppen reared destroyer of Rangers
Rangers fans will remember Ismael Saibari from last season’s Champions League qualifiers.
Under Giovanni van Bronckhorst the Gers managed to overcome PSV Eindhoven and Ruud van Nistelrooy to reach European football’s land of milk and honey.
But under Michael Beale and a more experienced, Peter Bosz-led PSV, a revamped Rangers were blown away only a year later.
Ismael Saibari started both legs of the 7-3 aggregate defeat and impressed watching Rangers fans thoroughly.
Netting twice in the second leg in the Netherlands, Saibari was named Player of the Match and the sight of the attacking midfielder is enough to haunt bluenose dreams heading into this summer’s qualifiers.
Now rated at a whopping £50m by Moroccoan pundit Ali Boussaboun amid links to Arsenal, the 23-year-old is one of the Eredivisie’s top talents.
But had it not been for Nils Koppen, the kid might never have made the grade in Holland.
Indeed, it was during Koppen’s time in Genk that Barcelona-born Saibari was brought from Anderlecht in 2017.
The Belgian was then part of the recruitment team that brought Saibari to PSV in 2020.
Koppen’s success in the Netherlands convinced Rangers to appoint him at the turn of the year and it’s clear Morocco is a region and playing culture the Belgian has some experience with.
Igamane one of football’s ‘best young strikers’
Whilst Ismael Saibari’s story is somewhat different – the 23-year-old is European born – there are some similarities with Hamza Igamane that Rangers fans will note.
Rangers will hope to develop the striker into a Moroccan international at Ibrox and bank a fortune on any future player trading transfer.
Whilst the deal is yet to be confirmed, reports in Morocco and in Scotland have suggested that a move for the 21-year-old is already some way down the line.
So what are Rangers getting in the shape of Hamza Igamane?
According to data published by CIES Football Observatory, Rangers would be signing one of the top U23 strikers in global football.
Using their ‘performance score’ Hamza Igamane ranks an impressive seventh on the list keeping company with the likes of RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson and Bologna’s Joshua Zirkzee.
All three of these players have been the subject of high-profile transfer reporting including big fees in recent months.
The transfer deal would allow Rangers to sign Hamza Igamane at both a crucial point in his development and before Europe’s top clubs bankroll a move.
Should a deal be concluded as expected, it’s an exciting transfer for the club and certainly follows the new direction taken by Rangers in the transfer market this summer.
So far Rangers have added Jefte (Fluminense), Oscar Cortes (RC Lens), and Clinton Nsiala (AC Milan) to their squad with more names set to follow.
