Rangers problems could have been solved in January for £100,000
Rangers suffered another defensive injury against Hibernian on Wednesday (9 February) as Leon Balogun limped off injured at Ibrox.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst already has Filip Helander out injured long term and was forced to play Calvin Bassey alongside Connor Goldson at centre-half.
It certainly wasn’t what the Dutchman was hoping would happen with Bassey at his best when operating at left-back, a place occupied by Borna Barisic when Balogun was substituted.
The Light Blues’ lack of depth could have been solved in January but the club’s board proved to be stubborn in not paying the asking price for Hearts defender John Souttar.
The Jambos set a £500,00 asking price for the 25-year-old, who joins the club in the summer on a free transfer, but the Ibrox club were £100,000 short of that price on deadline day [Edinburgh News].
In the long term, it will seem a clever move to not fork out half a million quid for someone who was already committed to signing in the summer but it might be detrimental to their title charge this campaign.
Having Souttar alongside Goldson would almost certainly be the strongest pairing in the entire Scottish Premiership and that would allow the attacking talent at the club to thrive in the final third.
It would also see Bassey be able to keep his spot as the club’s left-back rather than being shuffled around to fit whatever the club needs on a game by game basis.
van Bronckhorst surely wanted Souttar as soon as possible so for a difference as little as £100,000, it is an odd decision not to pay the whole hog and get an extra six months of the Jambos defender.
All fingers are now crossed that neither Goldson nor Bassey gets injured, leaving teenager Leon King as next in line to start.
In other Rangers news, this defender Rangers wanted in January has spoken out about his future.