Rangers have now been offered the chance to sign a new midfielder in January as they look to recover from their dismal start to the season, it has been claimed.
Rangers reinforcements required in January
Philippe Clement’s side are currently 11 points behind reigning champions and Glasgow rivals Celtic, having endured a tough start to the season in the Scottish Premiership. Worse still, they are seven points behind Jimmy Thelin’s Aberdeen side, who have enjoyed a rich run of form in the opening months of the campaign and sit second in the league.
Losses to Kilmarnock and Aberdeen as well as Celtic have been damaging to Clement’s side, while they have also been unable to go on one of their usual winning runs that often characterise their campaigns.
There are still chances of silverware this season though, with Rangers impressing in the Europa League and still with a chance of lifting either of the Scottish Cups, with Clement’s side facing Celtic in the semi-final of the League cup before Christmas. One of the problem areas for his side have been the central areas.
Young duo Connor Barron (22) and Mohamed Diomande (23) have been at the base of Rangers’ midfield, and it has been a shoot-out between Ianis Hagi, Tom Lawrence and Nicolas Raskin for the third midfield spot.
Player
Appearances
Goals and assists
Mohamed Diomande
11
3
Connor Barron
13
0
Nicolas Raskin
10
0
Ianis Hagi
4
1
Kieran Dowell
8
0
Tom Lawrence
8
5
Nedim Bajrami
9
1
Clearly, there is room for improvement in that area, with no one able to provide a consistent attacking threat from the middle of the pitch to support unlikely new marksman Cyriel Dessers, who frustrated and dazzled last season but now appears to be more consistent in front of goal. Now, they could land a new option to help them push on in the second half of the campaign.
Rangers offered chance to sign "very good" midfielder
That comes as a fresh report has revealed that Rangers and Clement have now been offered the chance to sign out-of-favour Chelsea midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka in January.
The former Aston Villa youngster has seen his gametime severely limited since Enzo Maresca’s arrival, who admitted in the summer that though he was a “very good” midfielder, he was not going to get much action in west London.
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“Carney, I think he is a very good player. With us, is he going to play 35 games? I’m not sure”, the Italian explained. “The problem is, because of some injuries in the past, I think the best for him is to play 30 or 35 games in a row, to show himself that he is fit and how good he is because he is very good.”
Having failed to secure a loan move in the summer, he is now set to leave in January and is open to moving to Ibrox, according to The Boot Room, recognising that he needs regular first team football.
Chelsea, meanwhile, are happy for him to leave either as part of a “loan move or a permanent departure”, though the latter would be a club record move for Rangers and is therefore highly unlikely. Even a loan move could see them need to pay a substantial chunk of the 21-year-old’s £100,000 a week wages, so it remains to be seen how flexible Chelsea are on that front.
Known as a box to box midfielder with an eye for goal from his time among the youth setup, Chukwuemeka could add another dimension to Rangers’ midfield for the second half of the season, and could help them push for success come the end of the campaign.