BBC reporter claims Erik Botheim will not sign for Rangers in major u-turn
Rangers will not be signing reported transfer target Erik Botheim according to a sudden u-turn from BBC reporter Fraser Fletcher.
TEAMtalk reported on Thursday that the club had been alerted to the fact that the 22-year-old was available after having terminated his contract with Krasnodar after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Within an hour Fletcher himself had reported that the club were “very keen”, and a day later added that there was now an offer on the table for the Norwegian, amid heavy competition, particularly for Marseille in France.
But in a major about-face he has returned with a Saturday (18 June) update apparently putting an end to the chase.
He wrote on his personal Twitter account: “UPDATE I have new information that makes it clear that there is nothing in the Erik Botheim to Rangers rumours.”
Botheim had made an £8million move to Russia after scoring 22 times in league and European games during 2021 for Bodo/Glimt.
Confusing
It is hard to know what to make of this since Fletcher is apparently now claiming there is “nothing” in the “rumours” just a day after he directly reported it was on.
It would be very strange if the club were not at least in the running to bring the Norway under-21 international in, considering his availability, but his wording suggests they were never involved.
There may be a reason why they are unable to get him, but they must surely have investigated the possibility.
He looks to be the right profile of player to make the next step in the Scottish Premiership, having had a break-out 2021 campaign in his homeland.
Although he never ended up playing for Krasnodar he was in good recent form on international duty, so if he could be brought in on a free then it would be a relatively low-risk signing.
A player of his age and potential suddenly becoming available for nothing isn’t common so it is no surprise there there was mooted interest from across the continent.
Fans could have been excused for getting their hopes up, but on this latest update it appears they are set to be disappointed.
The complete contrast between reports from Fletcher are hard to reconcile, so unless or until he expands on the new information, it may leave the door open for another change.
In other Rangers news, there may have been an “error” in the new resolution to end the club’s stand-off for the league over cinch and the Gers believe they can take full advantage.