It appears that, rather contrarily to the number of midfielders that Rangers currently have, deals may actually be close for both Vanja Dragojević and Jens Hjertø-Dahl. The Partizan Belgrade and Tromsø stars are current assets of their present teams, but both have a market value of around £8M, and both have owners who seek the full numbers if possible. We did know, of course, from Sky Sports News, that Rangers were negotiating regarding the Partizan man. However, it appears that a reasonably credible Norwegian outlet by the name of Nordlys has claimed that the Dahl progress has continued further. Rangers entered into overseas negotiations, whereby a flight travelled to Norway to negotiate terms.
Rangers pursue two more midfielders
This would be a potentially spectacular and possibly expensive double signing, with Rangers bringing in two central midfielders, further central midfielders, to the pack. Ibrox Noise had dubiety about the truth of these stories, simply because we already have about eight or nine central or defensive midfielders on our roster. It was widely understood that we had to get rid of players before we brought more in. However, it seems like a £13M double signing of around £8M for Dahl (£7M initial) and £5M for the Partizan man has led to Rangers adding further to the ranks instead of shedding more.
A curious transfer strategy
It is a curious system whereby Rangers appear to be zoning in on lots and lots of midfielders. We are not quite sure what the strategy is here from Derek McInnes, if we are totally honest, but we will go with it because both of these players are clearly high quality. One is an outstanding midfielder for Tromsø and highly sought after by many teams. The same goes with Dragojević, who is clearly a high asset in Serbian football and will not go cheap according to Partizan.
Ferguson implications become clearer
However, the fact is that Rangers will have over 10 midfielders once these two deals are done, and they both do seem to be getting closer. One saw an Ibrox delegation apparently travelling to Norway to finalise or advance the discussions. As we said, Sky Sports News have confirmed that negotiations with Partizan are also at an advanced stage for their captain. It is an extremely curious, if inspiring, set of events because both players are high quality and big potential future assets.
If both do arrive, it definitively will spell the end for any notion of Lewis Ferguson. He is a central midfielder cum-8, and a very, very powerful player in the middle. However, both of these two, added to all the other midfielders Rangers have, suggest that if they both come over the dotted line, Ferguson is a non starter and it just is not happening. He would be too expensive, and there would be no point in adding him to the roster.
Two deals edging closer
Rangers clearly decided he was out of our price zone, and Bologna’s comments today probably confirm that one. Ergo, the ramping up of the Dahl and Dragojević situation. Consequently, Rangers may well be getting two signings over the next week if both negotiation sets come to pass and materialise. However, there is still work to do before that happens.
Goodness, clearly we are going to have a lot of good midfielders at this club.