It’s already been a very busy summer for Glasgow Rangers at Ibrox, but that trend is showing no sign of slowing down.
So far, Russell Martin has been unveiled as the new manager, while seven new signings have been made, with Djeidi Gassama the latest player to arrive, joining for a reported fee of £2.2m earlier this week.
However, they are far from satisfied just yet, with a more experienced player now being targeted once again.
Rangers' pursuit of a new centre-back
It may still only be mid-July, but Rangers’ season begins in just four nights’ time.
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On Tuesday, the Light Blues will welcome Panathinaikos to Ibrox for the first leg of their Champions League second qualifying round tie, before the duo meet again at the Spyros Louis Olympic Stadium in Athens eight nights later.
As outlined by Martin McMillan of the Glasgow Times, Rangers must have submitted their squad for the tie to UEFA by 11 o’clock on Thursday night, albeit two players can be added up to 24 hours before kick off.
With that last part in particular in mind, the Daily Record is reporting that Rangers are pushing to sign Conor Coady, desperate to have him available for the Panathinaikos tie.
They note that the England international has been denied permission to secure a move to Rangers for now, although ‘cash-strapped’ Leicester are still determined to move on one of their highest earners, having now ‘earmarked’ a replacement.
Thus, the Gers have not given up hope of securing Coady’s signature before the deadline, but face a serious race against time.
Why signing Conor Coady is so important for Rangers
Of course, Rangers want to beat Panathinaikos to keep their Champions League qualification hopes alive, but victory would also guarantee, at worst, a spot in the Europa League.
Meanwhile, defeat to the Greek side could see them end up in the Conference League, or possibly without any league phase football at all, which would be catastrophic.
Should they end up celebrating victory come full time in Athens on 30 July, the Light Blues could then face RB Salzburg, Fenerbahçe, Nice, Club Brugge, Benfica or others in later rounds, so Coady’s top-level experience would prove invaluable.
Martin, a former centre-back himself of course, may not be feeling ultra-confident about his current options in that position.
John Souttar
28
2022
94
Ben Davies
29
2022
58
Clinton Nsiala*
21
2024
13
Robin Pröpper*
31
2024
43
Leon King
21
2020
42
Nasser Djiga
22
2025
Zero
Emmanuel Fernandez
23
2025
Zero
*expected to leave the club.
**King made his senior debut in 2020.
Of the players in the table above, it is expected that both Clinton Nsiala and Robin Pröpper will depart, while Ben Davies has been tipped to be on the move too.
With youngster Leon King unlikely to be trusted, that leaves John Souttar and new duo Nasser Djiga and Emmanuel Fernandez as Martin’s centre-back options for a season-defining Champions League tie.
Playing Fernandez in particular would surely be a risk, considering he is just 23 years old, having made only 71 senior appearances to date, the vast majority of which have come at EFL League One level.
Coady, on the other hand, has 485 senior club appearances to his name, of which 198 have come in the Premier League and 18 in the Europa League, on top of his ten England caps.
Tim Spiers of the Athletic praised Coady’s outstanding leadership qualities, while Sean Dyche, who was his manager at Everton, heralded his “immaculate” professionalism and lauded him as a “high-quality footballer”.
So, we all know that Coady would bring some vital experience to Rangers’ back line, but let’s assess how his statistics compare to Fernandez?
Appearances
43
42
Minutes
3,103
3,407
Accurate long passes %
49.6%
28.6%
Interceptions
0.6
0.8
Tackles
0.6
1.1
Clearances
3.2
6
% of ground duels won
57.2%
55.1%
% of aerial duels won
51.9%
64.2%
As the table outlines, Coady and Fernandez’s statistics are very similar across the given timeframes, albeit it’s worth considering that the former was plying his trade in the Championship and then the Premier League, with the latter in EFL League One.
For context, according to Global Football Rankings, England’s top three tiers are the first, 11th and 53rd strongest leagues in the world, representing a huge drop-off between tiers two and three.
Thus, it is clear that signing Coady would represent a major coup for Rangers, and doing so before Monday would exponentially increase their chances of progressing past Panathinaikos.
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