Rangers drop down transfer food chain as Harris Afzal transfer announcement made
Rangers have missed out on rising star Harris Afzal after Southampton confirmed the 16-year-old’s arrival on Thursday.
While plenty of youngsters will have their sights set on making the grade at Rangers one day, Afzal is not one of them after the Championship side won the race to sign the left-back from Queen’s Park.
The defender will officially leave the Scottish Championship outfit in the summer, before heading to the Premier League promotion-hopefuls.
Rangers and Celtic were reportedly trying to sign the promising teenager, but Southampton have pipped them to the post.
Rangers will have to look at other transfer targets as a worrying trend continues to emerge between English and Scottish football.
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Harris Afzal wanted England move
Following his arrival at Southampton, the youngster made it clear how he wanted to head south of the border to further his career.
That might be a damning indictment of where the direction of travel is for teams in the United Kingdom.
| Harris Afzal still searching for Queen’s Park debut | |
| Rangers 8-0 Queen’s Park (Scottish Cup) | Unused substitute |
| St. Johnson 1-1 Queen’s Park (Scottish Championship) | Unused substitute |
| Queen’s Park 0-2 Raith Rovers | Unused substitute |
The fact that he is yet to make his first-team debut for Queen’s Park suggests he is a long way from making the grade at senior level.
But Afzal, who had a trial at the Saints earlier this year, clearly sees a pathway to the first team at Southampton.
He told the Saints: “I’m really excited. It’s something that I’ve always wanted, to get a move to England, so it’s good that the hard work’s paying off now.
“When I came down, I thought it was a really good atmosphere, I liked all the lads and the coaches, and I thought it was a really good set-up. I feel like that’s where I can see myself progressing.”
Southampton’s Director of Group Talent Strategy, Andy Goldie, added that Afzal will “enhance” their under-18 squad next season.
But the fact that he chose Southampton over Rangers should, perhaps, sound alarm bells for the Gers.
Scottish Premiership at a big disadvantage
After Steven Gerrard led Rangers to the Scottish Premiership title in 2021, the ex-England international admitted he was surprised by the jump up in quality following his move to Aston Villa later that year.
And if anything, the divide between the two divisions is only getting worse due to the sheer amount of money pumped in.
Indeed, the Scottish Professional Football League agreed a £150m live broadcast deal with Sky Sports for 2025-29. For the same period, TNT Sports and Sky signed a £6.7billion arrangement in England.
Rangers posted record revenues of £94.1million in their accounts for the year ending May 2025, whereas Gerrard’s old team, Liverpool, raked in £703m in that same financial year.
How can Rangers and Celtic compete with that? The answer is simple, they can’t.
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