Rangers on verge of signing Marseille star after stunning £3.4m transfer update
Rangers are staying active in the late stages of the summer transfer window despite missing out on a multi-million pay day for qualifying for the Champions League.
After losing to Club Brugge 9-1 on aggregate, Rangers have dropped into the Europa League, meaning a £15million-plus dent in the finances of new owners Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises.
As a result, Russell Martin is facing the sack at Rangers, meaning he could become the shortest-reigning permanent Gers manager of all time.
However, it seems like the Ibrox board have given their backing to Martin, who’ll be in the dug-out on Sunday for the first Old Firm Derby of the season.
Rangers close to signing Derek Cornelius from Marseille
Rangers’ defence has taken a battering in the Champions League with players like John Souttar and Nasser Djiga massively failing to live up to expectations.
Kevin Thelwell has reacted and now has a deal lined up to sign Marseille and Canada centre-back Derek Cornelius.
Fabrizio Romano reported on Friday evening that Rangers are “closing in” on signing the 27-year-old defender.
Romano doesn’t offer any other details. However, Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri reported earlier this month that Marseille are ready to sell Cornelius for £3.4million.
Away from Djiga, Emmanuel Fernandez has been the only other addition to the Rangers centre-back options since the end of last season.
Leon Balogun, Robin Propper and Ben Davies have all left, leaving a huge void of leadership and experience.
Who is Rangers target Derek Cornelius?
One of the biggest problems Rangers have faced in recent seasons is that while they have had plenty of experienced players on their books, those players have hardly ever stepped up.
Cornelius is a 27-year-old journeyman who’s played in Germany, Serbia, Canada/USA with MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps, Greece, Sweden and France.
He’s never spent more than a few years at one individual club and stats show that he has not long hit 150 competitive appearances across all competitions with all clubs in his senior career.
For Canada, however, it’s been a different story with him becoming a mainstay of Jesse March’s backline during arguably the greatest period in Canadian football. The ex-Leeds manager has already said the Rangers target is a “really important” player in his team.
The Ontario-born defender now faces a huge task in helping out one of the worst Gers defences ever seen.
Sign up for the Ibrox News WhatsApp channel and turn on notifications to have all the latest, breaking Rangers news sent straight to your phone.