With reports suggesting that Rangers are turning their attention to Anass Salah-Eddine in their pursuit of a new left-back, you don’t have to look too far for reasons to be optimistic.
The Netherlands under 21 international returned to Ajax after a loan spell at FC Twente last summer hoping to nail down a place in the first-team picture at his parent club. But, once Borna Sosa arrived from Stuttgart for a fee of £8.5 million – a substantial investment for any Eredivisie outfit, even one of Ajax’s relatively deep pockets – Salah-Eddine immediately had a pretty bad feeling about how the season would turn out.
“These are things you don’t see coming. I can say I don’t mind, but then I would be lying. It’s not nice, but it’s part of it,” Salah-Eddine told Voetbal International after Sosa’s sudden deadline day arrival.
“I spoke to the trainer (the now departed Maurice Steijn) and decided that I want to fight for my chance at Ajax. I just want to get the most out of the time that I am here, so that at the end you can look back and say; ‘I did everything I could’.”
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Nearly five months after Sosa’s arrival at the Johan Cryuff Arena, it has become pretty apparent that Salah-Eddine’s fears were not misplaced.
The Amsterdam-born 22-year-old has made more league appearances for Ajax’s reserves (10) than he has for the senior side this season (six). He’s featured in only seven minutes of Eredivisie action since early November too, opportunities still not forthcoming even as Sosa – like many of the club’s summer signings – struggles to live up to expectations.
Fabrizio Romano now reports that Rangers are offering Salah-Eddine a lifeline during the final week of the winter window. And this is an opportunity the youngster must be tempted to grasp, frustration’s presumably growing behind the scenes having made no secret of his desire for regular first-team football.
Anass Salah-Eddine linked with Ibrox switch
“Ajax are open to loaning out Anass Salah-Eddine in the final days of the January transfer window,” Romano writes on X. “The 2002-born Holland U21 left-back is on the list of several clubs, including Rangers and Torino.
“But the race is open. Nothing agreed so far.”
Rangers are unlikely to step up their interest unless Borna Barisic (out of contract in July) or Ridvan Yilmaz (linked with a return to Turkey) first depart. But should one of the two go, and should Ajax persist with Sosa, then Salah-Eddine may feel that this is an opportunity he cannot afford to miss.
