Rangers’ transfer strategy is increasingly under the microscope after the club turned down £36m worth of offers for seemingly exit-bound trio Glen Kamara, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos.
The Gers – and namely former sporting director Ross Wilson – have come in for substantial criticism for a lack of freshness in the Ibrox squad which has struggled this season.
Despite receiving several high profile offers for all three players, Rangers turned them down and, this season in particular, all three have failed to deliver for frustrated supporters.
What’s more, both Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos – once the club’s top assets – are set to walk out the front doors of Ibrox and leave Rangers for absolutely nothing.
There is also a feeling that Rangers failed to cash in on Finnish international midfielder Glen Kamara at the peak of his powers.
Gers made £36m judgement call that didn’t pay off
Interestingly, Rangers reportedly turned down offers reaching a combined £36m for the three players over the last few seasons.
While there is some discrepancy in reporting, BBC Sport claim Rangers turned down a £10m bid for Ryan Kent from Leeds United in 2020.
There was that widely reported £16m bid for Alfredo Morelos from Lille the same year, with a reported £10m deal to bring Glen Kamara to OGC Nice collapsing at the end of the summer transfer window.
Rangers’ recruitment strategy is designed to ensure that, where the club can trade, they do so, with readymade replacements to step into the side or to be recruited in response.
Rangers funding failure cannot continue in functional transfer strategy
While keeping Morelos and Kent contributed massively to 55, Rangers should have had suitable replacements lined up to negotiate them out the door and keep the wheels turning.
The fact that both are leaving for nothing – even with their contributions – can be viewed as nothing but a failure from a recruitment point of view and harsh lessons need to be learned.
Kamara has also suffered a dramatic downturn this season, and thereis not a Rangers fan in Ibrox who hasn’t got the impression from the midfielder that he doesn’t really want to be there.
Having played for the club in the 2-2 draw with Hearts, pulled in from the cold, there was a feeling it was about giving Kamara a send-off in front of the support.
But we highly doubt Rangers will be able to recoup the £10m the club almost got from France and, given his scant contribution this season, the club really should have shifted Kamara when they had the chance.
While the winds of change are sweeping through Rangers, and there is mounting excitement at the club, we don’t want to bring down the atmosphere by going over these exits.
But Rangers fans are quite right to point out the systematic failure of the club to re-energise the club’s squad and finances, at the cost to both the transfer budget and the trophy room.
That change must extend to the club’s recruitment and we need an intelligent, active and purposeful recruitment that ensures we maximise our greatest assets and recycle the cash into better growing the squad.