Rangers hit the jackpot on McLeish’s 6ft 3 colossus who left for £8m

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 turn of events led to the club enduring a horrific season. Not only did they finish 17 points adrift of Celtic in second, but the Gers failed to lift a trophy, and it meant McLeish was facing considerable pressure from both the board and the supporters to get things right ahead of the following campaign.

Dado Prso, a Champions League finalist, was signed on a pre-contract deal, while Boumsong, who had signed a pre-contract with the Gers in December 2003, was the most anticipated signing.

They fought off interest from Liverpool, Arsenal, and Inter Milan to get the highly rated defender, which proved to be a profitable decision…

Jean-Alain Boumsong shone for Rangers

The Frenchman must have found playing against Livingston, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and Dundee a cultural shock after facing Paris-Saint-Germain and AS Monaco just months before, but he adapted well to Scottish football.

Boumsong made 28 appearances for the Light Blues during the first half of the season, helping them improve significantly from the previous season. McLeish’s side was vying for the title, and they had even earned two Old Firm victories in November to put 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.

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