Rangers pair Nikola Katic and Cedric Itten were deadline day departures from Ibrox as they headed out to the continent on loan in search of much-needed minutes.
Both players found themselves out of Steven Gerrard’s plans this season for differing reasons, with Croatian centre back Katic recovering from injury and Swiss forward Itten struggling for minutes.
But the departure of both was shrouded in a little bit of mystery as both players appeared to have recall options and the option-to-buy inserted into their contracts.
Dependent on how things go at Hajduk Split and Greuther Fürth, Katic and Itten could wind up either back at Ibrox or in Croatia and Germany permanently.
According to reports surrounding both transfers, Nikola Katic and Cedric Itten have £3m option-to-buy clauses inserted into their contracts.
Both players made their debuts over the weekend
When both players moved out of Rangers this summer it was for the promise of more football and so far, their new clubs have not disappointed.
As Nikola Katic returns from a cruciate injury that kept him out of the whole of last season, the 24-year-old centre-back will need to be eased into life at Hajduk Split.
This means that the player’s competitive debut in Croatia was from the bench as the defender came on with just over 10 minutes to play in Hajduk’s 3-1 victory over Istra 1961.
Itten, 24, is fit and ready to play so went straight into the Greuther Fürth starting XI for the visit of high-flying Bundesliga outfit VfL Wolfsburg.
Despite playing 90 minutes, the big Swiss striker was powerless to resist as his new side fell to a 2-0 defeat to the Bundesliga league leaders, who have now won four on the bounce in Germany.
We’ll be watching their progress closely over the next few months as the Gers either hope to see improved players return to Ibrox or cash in up to £6m for the pair of them.
Whilst Nikola Katic is the Balkans until at least January, Rangers have been boosted by the news that a key player is set to return in the Europa League this week.