Glasgow Rangers manager Philippe Clement may have enjoyed a far better start to the 2024/25 campaign if he had got his own way with regard to several transfer targets.
Despite making 11 signings during the summer transfer window, Rangers are still light in a few areas, notably in the attacking department at Ibrox.
A move for Albion Rrahmani looked like it would materialise, but the striker eventually ended up joining Sparta Prague, where he fired them into the group stages of the Champions League just a few weeks after joining.
Failing to bring in a centre-forward of this quality could come back and haunt Clement, especially considering Danilo’s injury woes recently.
The Belgian isn’t the first Rangers manager to miss out on key targets during a transfer window, however, as it has been happening on a regular occurrence since the Light Blues returned to the Premiership in 2016.
Steven Gerrard’s three and a half year stint is the longest for one man since promotion and the former Liverpool captain could have built a team that might have dominated Scottish football if everything went to plan…
Gerrard’s success in the transfer market at Rangers
It may have taken the Liverpudlian a couple of seasons acclimatising in Glasgow before he had a squad ready to claim major titles, but the Englishman was establishing the building blocks from his very first summer window.
Players such as Connor Goldson and Ryan Kent joined the Gers in 2018, with both players contributing massively between 2018 and 2023.
Gerrard also knew when to find a bargain too. Joe Aribo joined ahead of his second season in charge of the club, costing just £300k due to cross-border transfer rules. Three years later, the club sold him for £6m to Southampton.
A similar scenario evolved regarding defender Calvin Bassey. The young left-back arrived in Scotland from Leicester City in a similar move to that of Aribo. He eventually broke into the first team properly during his second season, helping the club reach the Europa League final and win the Scottish Cup.
A few weeks later, Ajax signed him for a fee just shy of £20m, a stunning piece of business by the club.
Gerrard did make a few transfer howlers, however, no doubt about that. One name that stands out is Juninho Bacuna, who arrived following the Premiership title success in the summer of 2021.
Juninho Bacuna’s statistics at Rangers
With just a couple of weeks left of the window, Gerrard secured the services of Bacuna from Huddersfield Town in a bid to bolster his midfield.
Despite going out of the Champions League, hopes were high that the club could retain their league title while going far in the Europa League.
The midfielder had played over 100 games for Huddersfield, including 21 in the Premier League, so clearly knew how to perform at the highest level. Gerrard couldn’t bring the best out of him, however, as the Curaçao international struggled to hit the ground running at Ibrox.
The 27-year-old lasted just six months at Rangers, making 12 appearances in all competitions. He may have scored once and grabbed three assists in the process, but it was clear Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who had taken over from Gerrard, wasn’t a fan.
Bacuna joined Birmingham City in January 2022, ending a dismal period north of the border. It was a signing which should never have happened if Gerrard had managed to get his own way with another transfer target – Joey Veerman.
When Rangers missed out on Joey Veerman
After winning the 2020/21 league title, the former England captain was expected to be backed in the transfer window by the board.
|
Steven Gerrard’s signings for Rangers in 2021 |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Player |
Club signed from |
Year departed |
|
John Lundstrum |
Sheffield United |
2024 |
|
Fashion Sakala |
KV Oostende |
2023 |
|
Juninho Bacuna |
Huddersfueld Town |
2022 |
|
Nnmadi Ofoborh |
Bournemouth |
2023 |
|
Via Transfermarkt |
||
Several targets were being assessed, including Dutch defender Danilho Doekhi, but the player moved to Union Berlin instead. Veerman was another player on Gerrard’s wish list, having shown plenty of promise during his spell at Heerenveen.
Indeed, the Ibrox side looked to strike an agreement with the Eredivisie side reportedly worth around £7m to lure him to Scotland to bolster his options in the heart of the pitch.
No move came to fruition, with Veerman admitting that he was priced out of a move due to his former club’s massive asking price, which meant Rangers ended up signing Bacuna instead.
Since this near miss, the Dutch midfielder has gone from strength to strength, shining for PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands national side.
Joey Veerman’s market value in 2024
Six months after Rangers showed interest, PSV managed to sign the player for a fee in the region of £4.6m, lower than what Heerenveen asked for just a few months prior.
Veerman emerged as one of their key players during his first full season, registering 23 goal contributions as the club won the Dutch Cup under Ruud van Nistelrooy, before taking his game to new heights last term.
Across just 29 league matches, Veerman scored five times and grabbed an impressive 16 assists as the club claimed the Eredivisie title with ease. These performances saw him claim a place in the Netherlands side for Euro 2024, showcasing his progress over the previous few years.
Despite costing just under £5m, the midfielder is now worth a staggering £34m according to Transfermarkt, proving that PSV certainly hit the jackpot with the player who was once wanted by the Light Blues.
While there was no guarantee that Veerman would have taken to life in Scotland with ease, considering how well he has progressed in the previous three years, his abilities surely would have shone through in the Premiership.
Having to resort to signing a player such as Bacuna was effectively settling for second best, especially as the Ibrox side failed to retain their league crown, relying on a Scottish Cup victory to salvage any sort of pride, domestically anyway.
With Veerman now a star of European football, how might Rangers have looked that season if Gerrard was sufficiently backed by the board during the summer of 2021?
