Rangers have stronger options than Erik Botheim to fill striker void
Rangers believe they have “stronger options” available to them in the transfer market than Norwegian striker Erik Botheim, according to Football Scotland.
The Light Blues have scouted the 22-year-old a number of times and he is on Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s list of potential new number nines but he is not thought to necessarily be their number one choice.
He could be elevated in the order though as he is available on a free transfer after he tore up his contract with FC Krasnodar in Russia – having only signed for them on 3 January, as a result of their invasion of Ukraine under President Vladimir Putin.
Football Scotland’s Mark Hendry said via his personal Twitter account that “Rangers do have other targets and Botheim is not necessarily to option.”
Before his January move to Krasnodar, Botheim played for Celtic’s eventual Europa Conference League masters Bodo/Glimt in his native Norway where he scored four goals in six group stage matches in the third continental competition.
Wait
If you only look at his record from 2021 onwards then you can see why Rangers are getting excited in this race because he did very well during that time.
But if you look back to only the year prior you can see that he still needs to be nurtured that little bit more as he played 15 times on loan at Stabæk without finding the net once in the same division.
We should still have Alfredo Morelos for at least another 12 months which will be fantastic for us, if he can stay fit, and Kemar Roofe is an adequate backup for the Colombian should he miss games for whatever reason.
So we can afford to hold off on getting a striker in right now until either Morelos is sold or his contract runs out at the end of the 2022-23 campaign.
Botheim could be the guy to replace him though and he won’t be available for nothing this time next year so a decision has to be made eventually.
In other Rangers news, the club are still set to profit from the SPFL’s latest agreement despite a very long legal dispute between Douglas Park and one of the league’s sponsors.