Athletic report makes massive £170m Rangers claim as storming season set to pay dividends
Rangers have been ranked the 47th best team in the world in a fascinating article on The Athletic on Wednesday morning.
That ranking has come from 21st Club, a consultancy firm used by clubs to “plan sustainable success through their insights and statistical models”.
They have also valued the Rangers squad at a massive £170m – that’s much higher than the valuation put on the squad by Ross Wilson a year ago.
Wilson said then that the Rangers squad was worth £55m with a future valuation of £103m.
“We rate Rangers as the 47th-best team in the world, which is the highest they’ve ever been in our model, which started in 2008,” said Omar Chaudhuri, chief intelligence officer at 21st Club.
“To give you a sense of what the 47th-best team in the world looks like, it’s about 14th in the Premier League and similar to Shakhtar Donetsk, Wolfsburg, Club Brugge — seriously good teams.
“That rating underpins how we value players. Our model values the Rangers squad very highly at £170 million. The actual market value is probably lower as, despite being a very good team, there is still a perception that the standard of the Scottish league isn’t high enough to justify big values.”
There’s been a long-running debate about how Rangers would get on in the Premier League. And this season – a storming unbeaten one for the Gers so far – might make a lot of people revise their opinions about the club.
21st Club – with all of its access to deep data – rates Rangers as a 14th-placed side if it was to compete in the top-flight.
That’s a position that any promoted team from the Championship would take in a heartbeat.
It would allow for consolidation before looking to challenge the top-half of the table.
Of course, any talk of Scottish teams joining the Premier League is idle speculation.
The £170m squad valuation is even more interesting. Rangers now have several players who could command high fees, although the aim in January will be to hold onto them and win the Premiership.
If anyone was looking for proof that Gerrard has succeeded at Ibrox, though, this article in The Athletic is it.
In other news, ‘Definitely’ – Exclusive: McLeish makes claim about Celtic fans as Rangers home in on 55