Rangers director Nils Koppen has previously made no bones about the club’s intentions in the Scottish transfer market.
The Ibrox side’s homegrown options are increasingly limited with a lack of focus on the best players coming out of the Scottish Premiership coming back to hurt the club.
The less said about boyhood bluenose Lewis Ferguson, the better.
Now, Nils Koppen has claimed that the Scottish market is an area of increasing focus which the club will be more ‘aggressive’ in going forward.
Nils Koppen: Gers targeting one Scot per season
Speaking to the Rangers Review, in a wide-ranging interview we’d encourage you to go and read, Nils Koppen has been discussing a number of talking points surrounding his role at Rangers.
The Ibrox director of recruitment has been tasked with revamping a flailing player trading model and has been given that mandate over two windows so far.
Speaking about the Ibrox side’s ambitions in Scotland specifically, Koppen claims that Rangers are to become far more ‘aggressive’ in snaring the best young talent in the country.
As part of that, the Belgian has also claimed that it’s one of Rangers’ ‘objectives’ to sign one Scottish player per season should the deal ‘make sense’.
“We have to be aggressive in the youth market to try to get the best young players in the country and keep investing in that,” explains Koppen.
“Because the strong core of Scottish players should come from your own academy. And sporadically, you buy somebody from other clubs, like with Connor Barron.
“It’s one of our objectives, to try and sign one player a season from another Scottish club if they’re there and the deal makes sense and it fits the plan.”
Does £5m Premiership wonderkid ‘fit the plan’ at Rangers?
Immediately the comments will pique the interest of Rangers fans who have been pointing the club towards two young Scottish Premiership talents in particular.
Whilst Kilmarnock midfielder David Watson has flown more under the radar, Motherwell teenager Lennon Miller continues to make headlines at Fir Park.
The 18-year-old midfielder has taken further strides in his development this season and Rangers reportedly watched Miller in the summer.
Given Koppen’s comments, both players are likely to be well-known by the club but Miller in particular could wind up costing Rangers in the long-run.
As the transfer talk swirls around the kid, the likes of Michael Stewart have told Rangers they would need to cough up £5m if they’re serious about a deal.
Whether that is a deal which ‘makes sense’ for Rangers given the club’s ambitions in the transfer market remains to be seen.
