Rangers transfer news: Heart and Hand reacts to ‘huge’ Mohamed Diomande update after scepticism
The £4.5million fee that Rangers are paying to sign Mohamed Diomande this month is a “huge outlay” for the January transfer window, according to David Edgar.
The Heart & Hand Podcast man reacted via Twitter on 23 January to the news, first reported by BT in Denmark earlier the same day, that the Light Blues were splashing out the equivalent of 40 million Danish Kroner for the young Ivorian.
Despite being delayed by the travel disruption caused by Storm Isha the 22-year-old FC Nordsjaelland player is set to follow Fabio Silva’s loan from Wolves as the second winter window addition at Ibrox.
Edgar wrote: “I was initially sceptical but the fee for Diomande is apparently indeed 4.5m.
“Huge outlay for January.”
Come through
John Bennett had indicated that Philippe Clement would receive backing in January when speaking at the AGM [Rangers Review, 5 December], and despite the past three weeks making it appear that there wasn’t the cash behind the manager to splash out the chairman appears to have stuck to his word.
Diomande is not the target many would have expected such a sizeable sum to be spent on this month, with no prizes for guessing that Lawrence Shankland would have likely been the first named by many.
But if he is rated as highly as some seem to think [John Walker, 21 January] then perhaps it is a deal that simply couldn’t be passed up if it was possible.
If he can hit the ground running then it may prove a masterstroke to sign him ahead of various other interested clubs.
But with Danilo already out long-term, only brief glimpses of Kemar Roofe, and now Abdallah Sima injured without playing a minute for Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations this Rangers side is looking dangerously short of goal-threat.
Cyriel Dessers is probably becoming more hit than miss compared to his start to life at Ibrox, but his finishing against Dumbarton suggested he can’t be the man that the whole season’s hopes are pinned on up front, and Silva should help but has never exactly been prolific himself and isn’t a specialist striker.
Rangers appear to have once again found themselves looking at James Tavernier as the primary scoring threat as things stand, so if there is any more money then a number nine would make a lot of sense.
In other Rangers news, the manager has confirmed that an attacking player is expected to leave before the window shuts.
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