If Philippe Clement wanted Popeye the Sailor Man up front for Rangers we’d trust him on it, but we absolutely urge caution over Dutch striker and former Motherwell hitman Kevin van Veen and the admission from the 32-year-old that Rangers made a move on him before he made his switch to Holland.
The current Groningen striker, who has fallen out with his coach Nico Raskin-style, needs a way out of his side, and would generally prefer a move back to Scotland, claiming Rangers were in for him before he left Britain.
He said:
“Of course I would listen to Motherwell because I had a successful time there. But last season my agent told me there was definitely interest in me from Rangers, though at my age I maybe don’t fit their profile. I had a lot of happy times in Scotland and I’d never rule out more.”
See, he has 5 in 14 in Holland, which would be Cyriel Dessers’-style numbers from the Nigerian’s time in Italy with Cremonese, but there’s a huge catch to this:
Van Veen’s goals are all in a division down – he is in the second division in Holland, not the Eredivisie, and he’s struggling to even get one in three at that level. Dessers was at least in Serie A.
Absolutely, unequivocally nowhere near good enough for Rangers, and it shows the difference between scoring a boatload in Scotland, as the Dutchman did in his second season, and scoring a boatload in a better league, which he is miles off doing.
His career record is well below what Rangers need, League One, League Two (neither of which was he even close to remotely average in never mind great) and the second division of Holland.
He is literally a journeyman striker who had one good season in Scotland and has done nothing otherwise but barely score at lower levels.
This is one to avoid.
That said, if Clement actually wanted him, welcome to Rangers Kevin!