Lille have now finally officially confirmed their interest in Rangers striker Hamza Igamane, putting to an end any potential speculation suggesting that nothing was happening here.
However, on the flip side, Russell Martin, Rangers manager, has denied that Rangers have rejected a bid from the French side for the Moroccan forward. We know that’s not true. Rangers have reportedly turned down a bid of around about £15 million, give or take.
The fact is, Rangers want a bit more, and Lille are currently following the progress of this transaction. He is a player that they definitely want. They have confirmed that now, categorically and in writing, so we know that they are monitoring him and want him. According to wider market sources, this may even become one of Rangers’ record sales, albeit subject to the final fee.
However, the same happened with Alfredo Morelos. As we recall, the same club bid for him at a fee of £16.5 million—£20 million euros as it was then. And Rangers’ former managing director, Stewart Robertson, proudly told the world that that had been rejected and we wanted Dim Belly Dollars. We wanted £20 million. We ended up losing Morelos for nothing, and not a single fan was happy about that.
We don’t want the same to happen here with the Moroccan. We want Lille to get their man, even if it means that Rangers lose a few million less than the desired £20 million. We would take £17 or £18 million. That would be absolutely fine, because he only cost about £2 million, and yes, there’s a 30% sell-on clause for FAR Rabat, but nevertheless, we want to get this guy gone because he wants to leave.
He has categorically been attributed as saying he is very excited about joining Ligue 1. That’s absolutely fine. He is welcome to leave. As we have said before many times, he is not that great a striker. He has no power, he has no pace, he has no height, and he can’t trap the ball.
What he can do is finish with a great deal of composure and clinicism, but he cannot lift his head. He makes poor decisions and he’s selfish. If you can take him to a higher level and iron out those creases in his patchwork, then yes, you might just get an outstanding striker.
But Rangers isn’t the place where he’ll develop into that striker at all. There is too much pressure. But at Lille, he will have to lift his level for the higher standard in France compared with the Scottish Premiership, and with less pressure that the club that is Lille will offer him, even if they are a strong side.
Either way, he is definitely wanted by them, and we definitely need to sell him. The sooner this one is cleared up as well, the better.