More precisely, Rangers had set their sights on signing Panamanian defender Jose Cordoba toward the end of the previous campaign and the start of the summer transfer window.
Rangers believed they had persuaded Jose Cordoba to move to Glasgow after giving the then-Levski Sofia center-back the Ibrox treatment, but the center-back changed the goalposts at the last second.
Nils Koppen has now explained that Rangers pulled the brakes on a transaction in the area of £3m amid uncertainty from Jose Cordoba, who ending up transferring to Norwich City weeks later.
But a failure to re-enter the market and adequately invest in the centre-back position is now coming back to haunt Rangers as injury envelops the club’s defence.
Rangers face defensive injury crisis
John Souttar, a Scotland international, was playing his finest game to date until Rangers suffered his most recent injury against Tottenham Hotspur.
The 28-year-old missed the Premier Sports Cup Final loss to Celtic after being sent off in the first half of the Europa League match.
With Philippe Clement saying that Souttar would miss ‘several weeks’ due to the injury, in the vernacular of the Rangers medical room this translates to anywhere between two weeks and three months.
Rangers had already lost versatile defender Neraysho Kasanwirjo to a season-ending injury sustained out on international duty with the Dutch U21s.
After undergoing surgery, the Feyenoord loanee is back in Holland and is unlikely to play this season.
As if to add insult to injury following Rangers’ shocking 2-1 loss to St Mirren, the team also lost Leon Balogun in Paisley to what appeared to be a terrible injury.
Before being replaced by harum-scarum Dutchman Robin Propper, the 36-year-old Nigerian international defender appeared to have an Achilles problem.
Every time he enters a Scottish football away stadium, the former FC Twente captain acts like Bambi on ice and doesn’t seem to understand Rangers.
Propper is another decent person at center defense, but Rangers supporters don’t trust him since he falters at the first sign of physicality or offensive pressure.
The 31-year-old is currently our only healthy natural center back, which doesn’t help. Clement has even responded to inquiries about the return of former Liverpool star Ben Davies.
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Rangers rue lack of centre-back transfer activity
But regardless of what happens during these two games, where Rangers will most likely be playing with a makeshift center-back pairing of Robin Propper and Dujon Sterling, center-back is a transfer priority come the winter window. Kris Boyd believes that if Philippe Clement fails to defeat both Motherwell and Celtic, then it will be curtains for the under fire Rangers manager. Fan pressure will undoubtedly be approaching breaking point. The Belgian coach had started to rebuild some goodwill with fans heading into January, but now his team completely blew it in Paisley, with supporters sharpening axes across the nation.
Rangers may finally be willing to open the checkbook and make the necessary defense investments come January, but it may be too little, too late in regards to Philippe Clement’s job and most likely the Scottish Premiership title. Rangers will regret not properly moving on from Jose Cordoba in the summer, as the team’s poor defense has cost them dearly this season due to injuries and ineptitude.
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