Samsunspor want to sign outgoing Rangers defender Filip Helander
Outgoing Rangers defender Filip Helander has emerged as a target for newly promoted Turkish Super Lig club Samsunspor, according to Fotomac.
The Swede will leave Ibrox when his contract expires at the end of the season, with the club announcing his exit alongside the likes of Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos and Allan McGregor last month.
And now it looks like he could be set to follow Kent to Turkey, with the English winger set to join Fenerbahce, as Samsunspor have made the 30-year-old a priority target.
“The first goal of Hüseyin Eroğlu, the coach of the Black Sea team, which completed the 1st League as champion, is to strengthen the defensive line,” they wrote (2 June).
“The most striking of the names on the list given by Eroglu, who went on a European tour and watched many matches recently, is Swedish defender Filip Helander.”
Good luck
Helander was a big part of the Rangers team that won number 55 under Steven Gerrard, but injuries have hit him hard and the club have opted to let him go.
He didn’t make a single appearance this season and had fallen way down the pecking order under Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Michael Beale, so an exit made sense.
The club are looking to bring in another defender too which would only have seen him fall even further away from first-team reckoning, but now he will have the chance to kickstart his career once more.
The Turkish league is a strong league and while he’d be at a newly promoted club, the likelihood is that he would walk into the side as a first-choice option and look to make a difference.
It could provide the platform for him to get a bigger move in the future, but at this point it’s just about getting back on the pitch for the big man. Best of luck to him.
In other Rangers news, this midfielder “will join” the club before the start of 2023/24 season.