Rangers to be on red alert as Virgil van Dijk-esque player in talks over summer transfer
Danny Rohl is hoping to shore up his defensive options this month.
Tochi Chukwuani became Rangers’ and Rohl’s first signing after completing a £4million switch from Sturm Graz on Sunday, whilst left-back Tuur Rommens is finalising his Ibrox move too.
Rangers aren’t done there either, as Andreas Skov Olsen is bound for Glasgow, with the Wolfsburg winger already understood to have packed his bags and is making his way to Scotland to boost Rohl‘s attacking options.
Andrew Cavenagh and the 49ers Enterprises have been urged to spend this month, but they should also have their ears tuned in to any potential bargain buy opportunities.
Long-time Rangers target drops ‘discussions’ admission
One of those can’t-miss chances may just have presented itself too, and it concerns a central defender.
Xavier Mbuyamba was linked with a move to Rangers in this season’s summer window, but in the end, the Gers instead decided to bring in the likes of Derek Cornelius, Emmanuel Fernandez and Nasser Djiga to shore up their centre-back depth.
However, with Cornelius and Dujon Sterling both injured, as well as both Djiga and Cornelius only being on loan at Ibrox, adding another central defender to the mix would be a pragmatic move by Rangers.
And Mbuyamba has now revealed that he’s held talks with others clubs, as the Volendam defender is able to sign a pre-contract agreement with overseas clubs ahead of his current deal running out with the Dutch side in the summer – something the Gers will be fully aware of.
The 24-year-old – once branded the next Virgil van Dijk – was also a previous target for Celtic, and with Rohl understood to still want additional defensive cover before the 2 February deadline, adding Mbuyamba for a surely discounted price could be a highly shrewd move.
Mbuyamba’s 2025-26 stats suggest he could be excellent addition
Having spent time with both Barcelona and Chelsea as a youngster, Mbuyamba signed for Volendam from the Blues in the summer of 2022.
He played an integral role in helping the club lift the Dutch second division title in 2024-25, but Rick Kruys’ men are firmly embroiled in a relegation battle at this stage of the current campaign.
- Mbuyamba has made 92 appearances for Volendam
- He’s scored 11 goals for the club
- He never made a competitive first-team appearance for either Barcelona or Chelsea
Despite that, Mbuyamba has been holding his own at Eredivisie level, and the 6’5″ centre-back is ranking highly in some key areas among his positional peers in the division this term.
He’s taking 2.19 touches in the opposition box per 90 (top 4.8 percentile), winning 2.19 tackles per 90 (top 8.1 percentile) and is winning 6.09 duels per 90 (top 11.3 percentile) respectively.
As such, there should be a strong level of confidence that he could come in and be an important player for Rangers, and would also add a towering physical presence to Rohl’s defence for good measure.
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