In the end, the only new face at Rangers on transfer deadline day was a pretty predictable one in the shape of Dundee’s Lyall Cameron.
That Philippe Clement, Nils Koppen and co wanted the Scotland Under-21 international at Ibrox was just about the worst-kept secret in the domestic game.
And, when the almost inevitable was finally confirmed on Monday afternoon, Rangers’ technical director could not help but blab away with a beam on his face the width of the Govan as Lyall Cameron puts pen to paper at Ibrox.
Contrary to reports which emerged last week, there would be no late hi-jack from Aberdeen despite interest from Pittodrie in the Dundee midfield dynamo.
Speaking of hi-jacks, the blue-clad Glasgewegians appeared to attempt one of their own as the deadline loomed into view. The final day of the transfer window opened with the bombshell claims that Rangers made a late effort to snatch Union Berlin’s Yorbe Vertessen from under the noses of Red Bull Salzburg.
An unsuccessful effort, as it turned out.
Yorbe Vertessen explains Red Bull Salzburg move as Rangers fail
Belgian journalist Pieter Jan-Calcoen always felt that Rangers had simply left it too late.
That indeed proved to be the case as Vertessen, best known for his time at PSV Eindhoven, jetted in to Austria for a fee of £3.3 million.
Now, anyone au fait with Yorbe Vertessen will know immediately what his stand-out attributes are. Searing pace and a rabid intensity. The taurine-powered Austrian giants feel like a pretty poetic fit, then, for a forward who plays every game like he’s mainlining Red Bull through an IV drip.
“I have heard a lot of good things about FC Red Bull Salzburg and their environment,” Vertessen told the club’s in-house media as Rangers officially missed out.
“I am really pleased to be able to give my all for this great club and hopefully help the team as soon as possible. I was in contact a lot with the management for a while and got the feeling that they believe in me, which was a decisive factor for me.
“The playing style is a perfect fit for my attributes, and I am certain that I can grow here as a player and a person.”
If Rangers had not left it until the last 24 hours or so of the window, maybe they would have given Vertessen something to think about.
He clearly admired the effort Salzburg put into signing him. And perhaps the rather hurried nature of The Gers’ approach left him wondering how much they really wanted him in the first place.
Though that can be explained. Or, at least, theorised.
A right footer who likes to drift in off the left, perhaps the lateness of Rangers’ approach can be attributed to the fact Rabbi Matondo did not depart until late last week. Vertessen was likely viewed as a replacement for the Welshman, but maybe the delayed nature of his eventual switch to Hannover kept an approach for the Belgian bullet on the backburner.
Salzburg see ‘a lot of potential’ in former PSV Eindhoven starlet
“In Yorbe Vertessen, we are getting a versatile attacker we have been following for long,” adds Rouven Schroder, Salzburg’s Managing Director for Sport. “We are certain there is a lot of potential still in him and that we provide the ideal environment here for him to develop.
“By signing him, we are gaining flexibility, creativity and goal threat. He will hopefully give us a lot to smile about.”
Still only 24, Vertessen crosses the border with a point to prove after struggling to arrest Union Berlin’s alarming slide from Champions League qualification to the deepest depths of a relegation dogfight.
