Rangers have second chance to sign £4m Pablo Torre thanks to Barcelona with reports in Spain claiming that La Liga leaders Barcelona plan to send the youngster out on loan this summer.
Exactly how close Rangers came to landing a baby-faced Lionel Messi before his Barca breakthrough may have been exaggerated a little over the years. A classic case of Chinese – or should that be Catalan? – whispers.
But with Sport claiming that Pablo Torre will be sent away from the Camp Nou ahead of the 2023/23 season, could Rangers succeed where they allegedly failed some 20 years ago?
Well, that will depend.
Rangers may have second chance to sign Barcelona’s Pablo Torre
Barcelona, Sport add, will hold talks with Torre’s representatives in the coming days in order to map out the next 12 months of his career.
The Blaugrana will prioritise a club willing to offer the Spain U21 international regular first-team football. Villarreal, Osasuna, Almeria and Celta Vigo have already lodged enquiries since the turn of the year. Celta may be a realistic destination; Gabri Veiga’s potential departure opening a space in Carlos Carvalhal’s squad for another promising attacking midfielder.
But while the intensity and the aggression of Scottish football has proved impossible for many young players to overcome – Amad Diallo, for instance – the benefits of sending Torre out on loan to Rangers are obvious. At Ibrox, the 20-year-old could develop a mature, fiercely competitive streak at a club where success is not only expected but demanded. A la Bayern Munich loanee Malik Tillman.
In Mick Beale, meanwhile, Rangers have a coach who boasts a fine track record when it comes to exciting, up-and-coming attacking midfielders. See Tilman and Todd Cantwell at Rangers. Ilias Chair and Chris Willock at QPR.
‘He’s a natural talent’
According to the Daily Record, Rangers missed out on Torre when Barcelona snapped up the so-called ‘new Pedri’ in a £4 million deal from Racing Santander last summer. Torre has only played 40 minutes of La Liga football under Xavi Hernandez, however. And Barcelona’s willingness to green light a short-term departure opens the door to Rangers once again.
“We have been following him a while,” Xavi says of Torre, who scored 10 goals and assisted 11 last term.
“For me, he’s a natural talent. He can play in midfield and out wide. He’s ambidextrous. (He) has a great final ball, scores goals and is great from set plays. He’s very young, but he’s a natural talent.”
Perhaps Torre could make an impact at Rangers similar to that of Jota at Celtic; another highly-talented, highly-technical academy graduate who defied concerns over his physicality and inexperience to thrive in Scotland.
