Rangers transfer bulletin as Oscar Cortes timeline emerges and Jefte stumbling block has a workaround

Oscar Cortes is getting closer to becoming a member of the Rangers as the Ibrox club is ready to make the Colombian standout an offer. Since the Ibrox gaffer has dealt with Fabio Silva and Mohamed Diomande in the past, the Lens star has risen to the top of Philippe Clement’s priority list.

Rangers are reportedly ready to jump on a loan agreement for the highly regarded 20-year-old winger inside the next 48 hours, according to Record Sport. Clement has already disclosed that he and Nels Koppen, the head of recruiting, are willing to work until the very last minute to fill the position with new applicants.

And Cortes’ name is the latest to excite the intrigued Ibrox support following the news that a deal for Brazilian ace Jefte could be on the move from Cyprus. Cortes has been allowed to skip international duty with Colombia’s Under-21 side in anticipation of an offer from Glasgow.

Former Gers hero Alfredo Morelos’ compatriot made his move to France last summer but has struggled for regular first-team action, making just four appearances for the Ligue 1 outfit so far. But Rangers are confident that a player who was his country’s top scorer at last year’s South American Youth Championships will do better in Scotland.

He won his move to Europe after bursting onto the Colombian scene with Millonarios, netting seven goals in 20 appearances for the Bogota outfit. It looks like he could be joined at Ibrox by another South American import, Fluminense ace Jefte – but only if Gers dig a little deeper to secure the left-back currently on loan with APOEL Nicosia.

The defender’s parent club in Brazil and Rangers have already worked out a £400,000 contract. The player has also agreed to a three-and-a-half-year contract. However, reports in Cyprus claim that APOEL will demand a comparable sum before agreeing to shorten the 20-year-old’s season-long stay and make room for him to transfer to Ibrox.

For their victory over Nea Salamis on Friday night, APOEL manager Ricardo Sa Pinto did not include Jefte in his team. The amount of the reparation charge APOEL would demand for shredding their loan agreement is now the sole obstacle to be overcome. Record Sport, however, is aware that they won’t be hard to work with after promising to encourage the player’s goals of playing at the greatest level.

Jefte was sent for a 12-month stay on the Mediterranean island by Fluminesnse last summer as part of a plan to drum up European interest in the hotly rated youngster. APOEL had hoped to make the deal permanent themselves – only to be thwarted by a FIFA transfer embargo.

They were one of 11 Cypriot clubs hit by world football’s governing body with a signing ban last month because of debts. That’s now opened the door for Rangers to pinch the player from under their noses.

The president of APOEL, Prodromos Petrides, declared last month that Fluminense’s asked price to release the Rio-born stopper was “not prohibitive.”

“The cost to purchase Jefte is not prohibitive, but the current embargo regulations prevent it from being done at this time,” Petrides said at the time. We want to make sure he stays so we can possibly get him in the summer. He would be a wonderful long-term member of the squad.

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