Rangers eye £2m 'absolute Rolls-Royce' who could help replace Goldson and Tavernier
03/05/2024 08:00
Philippe Clement, when explaining the decision to bring in Fabio Silva from Wolves during the January transfer window, was keen to point out that the striker was not signed to play purely as a centre-forward but also to give Rangers further depth in the number ten spot and out wide too.
"Fabio is growing. He is still a young player at 21. We had a lot of talks before he came to Rangers about his role and the roles he could play,” Clement said back in March.
"We talked about him as a striker and also playing on the left side, or even around the striker. He can do all these roles.”
The club’s other two mid-season additions – Mohamed Diomande and Oscar Cortes – also arrived with the reputation of being able to thrive in a number of different roles. Clement highlighted Diomande’s versatility – the Midtjylland loanee describes himself as a ‘box-to-box midfielder‘ who can also contribute defensively and in the attacking third – while Oscar Cortes has played in just about every attacking position imaginable.
Clement has made excellent use of Dujon Sterling’s adaptability too – Rangers’ man for all seasons and all roles – and has experimented with Abdallah Sima on the right of late.
Rangers still pursuing Dion Sanderson
So with the Daily Record reporting that Dion Sanderson is still very much on Rangers’ radar – a man the club looked at during Mick Beale’s tenure and remain keen on in the era of Clement and Nils Koppen – the Birmingham City defender is unlikely to be a target the club pursue with only one role in mind.
Sanderson, who moved from Wolves to Birmingham in a £2 million role last July, spent much of his early years as a right-back but has shifted into the centre over the last few seasons. The former Cardiff City and Sunderland loanee has also proven himself capable of performing as part of a traditional back-four as well as in a back-three.
Amid suggestions that both James Tavernier and Connor Goldson may be the latest Premiership winners to leave Rangers – Steven Gerrard reportedly wants to reunite with the duo in Saudi Arabia – Sanderson may be an addition which plugs two gaps at once, even if replicating Tavernier’s remarkable output from the flank would likely be beyond a man who has only three assists in his senior career.
Sanderson may not be an elite creator like Tavernier – a player who looks almost impossible to replace for a club of Rangers’ means – but his confidence on the ball and his ability to build from the back would still see him fit in pretty comfortably under a manager in Clement who prides himself upon a possession-heavy mindset.
Tavernier and Goldson linked with Ibrox exits
“He’s a centre-half and he is an absolute Rolls-Royce,” former Sunderland boss Lee Johnson said of Sanderson during his time at the Stadium of Light.
“In the Championship, when he was on loan at Cardiff, he played at right-back, which suited the style they were playing at that point, quite a direct style. (But) he has competence on the ball as a right-back, he’s very good on the ball as a centre-half.”
Should he join Rangers this summer – Birmingham are just one game away from relegation – the Blues skipper would likely be tasked with filling the boots of the ageing and increasingly error-prone Goldson in the right-sided centre-half spot.
Sanderson’s 85 per cent pass completion rate is largely the same as Goldson’s, a number which looks even more impressive when you consider Birmingham rank 20th in the Championship for average possession (WhoScored).
