Rangers have been credited with an interest in Joseph Okumu of Elfsborg as a potential replacement for outgoing Filip Helander, should the Swede indeed be sold.
Okumu, 24, is a Kenya international with 7 caps, but his whole senior career has been pretty low level with his current status of Alsvenkan (Swedish Premier League) his career high, so this is a stopper who, while well-rated, isn’t entirely proven.
Helander, who had a magnificent season aside injury, is interesting PL clubs and attractive performances for his country at the Euros will only enhance that interest with his value said to be anything above £8M.
For pure old-school quality brute defending, Helander is easily the best in the league and it’s not hard to see why he’s gaining admirers, and in the event of any of the bids being big enough, he’s likely to be sold with Okumu being a major candidate for replacement.
The £4m-rated CB could arrive at Ibrox for something below his market value, such is Ross Wilson’s genius ability to get top players below their typical fee, but Elfsborg general director Stefan Andreasson has confirmed ‘concrete’ interest in their CB and conceded there was a strong chance he would be sold.
Whether that’s to Rangers time, as always, will tell.
Given that we have to sell someone to refresh the squad and bring in some money then Helander would be one of the players I’d happily see moved on at a good profit. We did after all survive without him for much of the season. And it gives us a chance to bring in another Helander.
It’s an area we are pretty stocked in currently but still good to see the club pushing on and looking at improving every area especially with some expected sales. This lad however, seems to be the real deal and shows that you can find major talent outside the top 5 leagues. If he is ‘Van Dyke’ mark II as is claimed, what a signing he’ll turn out to be.
Comments are closed.