Rangers hit the jackpot with McLeish’s 6ft 3 giant, who left for £8 million.

Rangers made a major profit on a former player who was sold for £8m under Alex McLeish

Glasgow Rangers manager Philippe Clement plans to build a player trading strategy at Ibrox to maximize profit from signing cheap and below-market-value players.

Mohamed Diomande and Oscar Cortes are two additions that have the potential to become fantastic players during their time in Glasgow, allowing Clement to transfer them on for a much higher amount in the future.

Since returning to the Premiership in 2016, the Light Blues have only generated profits from Nathan Patterson, Joe Aribo, and Calvin Bassey.

It wasn’t always like this, as at the turn of the century, Rangers were selling players regularly and one player went on to rake in the club a staggering £8m when he was sold to Newcastle United in 2005 – Jean-Alain Boumsong.

How much Rangers signed Jean-Alain Boumsong for

After completing a spectacular treble in the 2002/03 season, Alex McLeish was under pressure to provide more success, but financial restrictions at the club forced him to sell off some crucial assets.

Neil McCann, Lorenzo Amoruso, and Barry Ferguson were replaced with Nuno Capucho, Emerson, and Henning Beg, all of whom were clearly nearing retirement rather than at the prime of their careers.

This change of events resulted in the club having a disastrous season. After finishing 17 points behind Celtic in second place and failing to win a trophy, McLeish under pressure from both the board and supporters to improve for the next season.

He did manage to secure the services of Dado Prso – a Champions League finalist – on a pre-contract agreement, while the biggest signing looked like it was going to be that of Boumsong, who had also signed a pre-contract with the Gers in December 2003.

They had fought off interest from Liverpool, Arsenal, and Inter Milan to secure the highly rated defender, and it would soon prove to be a lucrative decision…

Jean-Alain Boumsong shone for Rangers

The Frenchman must have found playing against the likes of Livingston, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and Dundee a culture shock considering he had faced off against Paris-Saint Germain and AS Monaco just months prior, yet he adapted well to Scottish football.

During the first half of the season, Boumsong featured 28 times for the Light Blues as they improved massively from the previous season. McLeish’s side were challenging for the title, and they had even secured two Old Firm wins during November to really ramp up the pressure on Celtic.

During this time, the centre-back was still a regular in the France national team, proving just how big a coup it was to bring him to Scotland and his performances did not go unnoticed.

How much Rangers sold Jean-Alain Boumsong for

The supporters knew that keeping a player like Boumsong at Ibrox for the long term was never going to be an option. Getting a couple of years out of him before selling for a profit was looked upon as the best-case scenario.

When Newcastle offered £8m during the January transfer window in 2005, McLeish was never at liberty of turning it down, especially with the growing financial problems rearing their head at Ibrox.

Graeme Souness – a legend among the Rangers faithful – lavished praise on the Frenchman.

“He is a young man who has a great desire to be the best,” the former Liverpool legend said. “He is a communicator on the pitch. You can never have enough of them. It is something we have been lacking; we don’t have enough people who are talkers.

“The supporters will enjoy watching him play. He has the potential to be one of our football team’s best players. I believe he want to be as successful as [John] Terry and [Rio Ferdinand].

Souness appeared to have found a player who may become a crucial member of his Newcastle side in the coming years, based on his performances for Auxerre on the continent and for the Light Blues in Scotland.

Little did everyone know, but the Gers obviously got the best bargain when they sold Boumsong for £8 million.

Jean-Alain Boumsong’s career statistics

The 6 foot 3 colossus failed to live up to his lavish transfer fee, going on to make a total of just 59 appearances for the Magpies, spending just 18 months in the north-east of England before joining Juventus in 2006.

The Old Lady had been relegated to Serie B due to their involvement in the infamous Calciopoli scandal in 2006 and Boumsong spent just one full season in Italy before moving back to France, joining Lyon in 2007.

85 appearances for the French side saw him pick up a Ligue 1 winners medal, and he eventually finished his career in Greece, playing 75 times for Panathinaikos before retiring in 2013.

It was clear that the former Auxerre defender was a standout during his time in Scotland, and he would not survive long north of the border.

Despite his success in Glasgow, he struggled to reproduce his performances in the English Premier League, ranking as the 17th worst player ever.

Boumsong remains the fifth-highest sale in the club’s history, after only Bassey, Patterson, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, and Alan Hutton. This demonstrates the significant amount paid, especially given the passage of over two decades.

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