Rangers’ ambitions in the transfer market have suffered an almighty blow following the club’s exit from the Champions League at the hands of Dynamo Kyiv.
The Gers were hoping to bank an additional £40m for competing in European football’s elite competition with the club having two potential transfer plans depending on qualification.
Whilst there was no Plan A or B per se, Rangers will now have to move for players on the Europa League list in a major blow to the club’s squad re-building hopes.
Philippe Clement has always been frank about the financial constraints at Rangers and the club now hope to manoeuvre several high earners out of the squad before plumping for new signings.
But the ramifications of Rangers’ failure to reach the Champions League are set to be felt in the pursuit of three high profile targets in particular.
Champions League blow in triple Rangers pursuit
The most high profile name on the Rangers Champions League list was former Ibrox loanee Abdallah Sima.
Earlier in the window, Philippe Clement was clear that Rangers could not meet Brighton’s asking price for the Senegalese attacker.
Whilst a move for Sima is not completely off the table as things stand, Rangers’ failure to reach the Champions League land of milk and honey has weakened the club’s hand.
Rangers now face an almighty decision over the 16-goal attacker who spent the second half of last season laid up on the treatment table.
The club will hope that high-spending Brighton lower their demands or reach a more creative agreement but in the meantime Rangers’ hopes of landing the attacker have taken a sizeable dent.
Rangers have also reportedly seen a £7m bid for Plymouth Argyle attacker Morgan Whittaker turned down earlier in the window.
The 23-year-old winger is a long-term Ibrox target with the Pilgrims reportedly holding out for closer to £10m for the free-scoring forward.
Rangers now face the very real reality of losing out on Whittaker due to a lack of available transfer funds.
Plymouth’s manager Wayne Rooney is already under pressure at Home Park Stadium and has previously claimed it will take ‘crazy’ money to prize Whittaker away from the English Championship.
Whilst Rangers will now potentially move on to other targets in the offensive part of the pitch, midfield also remains an area of concern.
Manchester United midfielder Hannibal Mejbri has been routinely linked to Rangers throughout the summer window.
Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano had previously suggested that finances were a sticking point in any Hannibal deal and a failure to qualify for the Champions League could see the move collapse.
The Italian journalist has previously claimed that United were looking to secure a permanent transfer fee for the midfielder and it remains unclear if Rangers could now meet the Old Trafford club’s demands.
Clement frank over Rangers transfer ambitions
Rangers fans will now wait to see who the Ibrox club moves for in the final two weeks of the window following the collapse of their Champions League dream.
The finances involved in the competition would’ve been a major boost to the club’s transfer hopes this summer with Philippe Clement talking candidly about the situation come full time.
Claiming that the finances involved in qualification would’ve sped up his plan for Rangers, the club will now continue to build a suitable player trading model with a view to the future.
“I told you guys this week if you go to Champions League you can do things faster because there’s £40m coming into the club,” Clement told the press after the Dynamo Kyiv defeat.
“That’s not the case now.
“So it will take more time, that’s the reality, to do the things that you want to do or do the things that the club wants to do.
“But it doesn’t mean that the story stops also of course and you see it already now with young exiting players coming into the club, making steps.
“I don’t need to say all the names every time, to make value for the future to make the next steps and out of that you can get two, three other players.
“Like this we need to create a model as a club to grow.”
Rangers have already struck nine transfer deals this summer with Mohamed Diomande (FC Nordsjælland), Oscar Cortes (RC Lens, loan) Robin Pröpper (FC Twente), Hamza Igamane (FAR Rabat), Vaclav Cerny (Wolfsburg, loan), Jefte (Fluminense), Clinton Nsiala (AC Milan), Connor Barron (Aberdeen), and Liam Kelly (Motherwell) joining the club.
Rangers have also seen a number of high profile players leave the club with John Lundstram, Borna Barisic, Ryan Jack, Kemar Roofe and Jon McLaughlin leaving at the end of their contracts.
Robby McCrorie (Kilmarnock), Connor Goldson (Aris Limassol) and Sam Lammers (FC Twente) have also been sold with Jose Cifuentes (Aris Thessaloniki) moving out on loan.
Rangers remain hopeful of moving out wantaway midfield pair Todd Cantwell and Ianis Hagi before the end of the transfer window.
