Albeit on loan, the signing of Nasser Djiga is most definitely, by some distance, Rangers’ best addition this summer window. It is the first player that we have added who has genuine winner mentality about him, having picked that up in his time in Serbia with Red Star Belgrade. He won the title in that country, a champion at long last. And not only that, but the stat we brought you earlier of his having won every single match in the league, or at least never having lost a single one, is an outstanding statistic to bring. It is a great thing to have on your résumé, to say the least, and Djiga is clearly a calibre above what we have already signed this window.
The only other player this window with a comparable CV is perhaps Joe Rothwell, even though Ibrox Noise was not necessarily that excited about him. He has 30 Premier League appearances, which is not bad. It is not bad at all. But then, it’s only a few more than Kieran Dowell did, and he was an absolute disaster.
Nevertheless, Djiga has not only those appearances in the Premier League—around 5+—not only is he unbeaten as a league winner in Serbia, but 14 Champions League appearances as well. Admittedly, not a high win rate there—two of those 14, one draw—but nevertheless, excellent experience because Rangers currently only have one player who has ever played in the Champions League, to the best of our knowledge. That is, of course, James Tavernier, who played in the Champions League abysmally with us in 2022. Aside from him, we’re not sure there’s anybody else who’s even been selected to play in the Champions League, and that is the pinnacle of football—aside from the Premier League, of course. In reality, the Premier League is the number one. It is the money, it is the big place, it is the place where every player wants to be—other than Real Madrid.
But nevertheless, Rangers have secured a real calibre player. We spoke recently about how he and Conor Coady could finally create a Weir and Ehiogu kind of defence under Walter Smith—that robust Premier League-level rearguard which made Rangers overnight the best team in Scotland. Nevertheless, either way, we’ve now got someone who is along that level, even if he’s not anywhere near as experienced as Weir and Ehiogu were.
Djiga is only 22. Let’s not forget that he is young, but he is clearly of high stock. Worth £10 million, he could well be the level of defender that Rangers actually need to go forward with. Let’s hope that his CV, and the fact that he’s also an international, do stand up and manifest themselves in the performance he produces on the pitch. He will be 100% a surefire starter.