So the circumstances of new signing Robin Pröpper’s arrival at Rangers have been finally confirmed by Twente’s Technical Director Arnold Bruggink revealed he’s absolutely fuming at the sale, but had no choice but to honour it.
Speaking to club source The Rangers Review, Bruggink admitted he didn’t want to lose Propper on any level, and is gutted he’s gone, but owing to a unique escape clause in his deal, had to honour the defender’s exit.
He said:
“Last year we stopped Robin from going to a top foreign club. After that, we started talking about the possible what-if situations that could arise the next time a club came in for him. Then we sat down together and made a new agreement. The agreement was if a club came in for him before midnight on July 31 and paid the agreed amount, then he could go.”
And the agreed amount, which we understand to be £2.5M, arrived as a bid from Rangers, £1.5M initial with addons.
Gruggink went on:
“That’s how it was. And the transfer to Rangers only started two days before it. So for us, it’s the timing that’s the most annoying. It’s not great at all. And it’s not great for the coaches, the players, the supporters and the club.”
He’s absolutely livid with this, they’ve lost their captain and key defender just a few days before their massive Champions League qualifier v Salzburg.
It’s a big, big blow for Twente, and gives some idea of how highly they rated him.
He finished:
“It still feels strange to me. Suddenly an important player – who was at the heart of the team – is gone. And our captain too.”
This lad was with Twente for 3 years and in that time had been an integral part of their team, their defence – but he was clearly keen last summer to try another country for the first time but honoured his club’s wishes to keep him, with a caveat.
Rangers triggered that caveat this summer and Propper is now ours.
Ibrox Noise has looked at his data from last season and it’s not exactly devastatingly brilliant, and we even checked out 22/23 which isn’t much better, but end of the day Twente clearly loved him and didn’t want to lose him.
So hopefully their loss is our gain. Their Technical Director thinks so.