Rangers were linked with a whole host of centre-forwards last summer before bringing Danilo and Cyriel Dessers to Ibrox. And it’s fair to say some of those reportedly under consideration by Mick Beale and co at the time have fared better than others.
Nikola Krstovic exploded into life in Italy but the fire has burned out since then. It’s been a similar story with Matija Frigan in Belgium. Josh Maja, meanwhile, has missed most of his debut season at West Bromwich Albion with injury.
Fotis Ioannidis, at least, can claim a seat alongside Haji Wright. The Panathinaikos talisman, like the Coventry City forward, is not quite turning into a classic ‘one that got away’ sort of situation, but his impressive goals return at least provides justification as to why Rangers were interested in the first place.
Striker Rangers scouted now on Celtic’s radar
Ioannidis has 21 goals and a further seven assists in 38 games for Panathinaikos in 2023/24. Unsurprisingly, that form has earned him the admiration of clubs far more deep-pocketed than Rangers, per Calciomercatio, including Sevilla, Lazio, Eintracht Frankfurt and even West Ham United of the Premier League.
Ioannidis, the report adds, has also been lined up by a number of other clubs to replace some of Europe’s most coveted number nines; Serhou Guirassy at Stuttgart, Viktor Gyokeres at Sporting Lisbon and Joshua Zirkzee at Bologna.
While Ioannidis certainly didn’t set the pulses racing when Rangers were linked in February 2023 – they reportedly scouted him and then-Panathinaikos team-mate Dimitrios Kourbelis – a side now under the stewardship of Philippe Clement appear to have been well ahead of the curve, watching the Athens-born 24-year-old at a time in which his promise was yet to translate into a prolific goalscoring record.
Ibrox scouts were onto something
Rangers also deserve some credit for noticing the talents of the Chelsea-linked Archie Brown, plus the likely £30 million-plus trio of Albert Gudmundsson, Andreas Skov Olsen and Joey Veerman while they were not even household names in their own countries.
According to Calciomercatio, there is another club far closer to home in pursuit of Ioannidis too. None other than Old Firm rivals Celtic. Now, it is not out of the question that Celtic will break their long-standing transfer record this summer. Ioannidis is valued at £13 million but Brendan Rodgers has money in the bank following some big-money sales.
Still – and in what will come as a sigh of relief to Rangers – the prospect of Celtic winning the race ahead of clubs capable of offering far bigger wages in a far bigger league looks slim, to say the least.
