Rangers tried to sign reported £35m Chelsea talent, confirms Van Bronckhorst
07/05/2024 22:50
Rangers fans often wonder why Giovanni van Bronckhorst never brought any Dutch players to Scotland during his tenure as Ibrox manager.
The former Oranje international captain has strong links to the Netherlands yet despite going through two transfer windows in Glasgow, never managed to convince a Dutchman of a move to Ibrox.
Although it was not for the want of trying.
Former Giovanni van Bronckhorst teammate Bert Konterman warned now AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders off a move to Ibrox.
Danilho Doekhi was strongly linked whilst at Vitesse Arnhem but chose to move to Union Berlin.
Xavi Simons wound up at PSV Eindhoven as his contract ticked down with PSG.
But now it appears Rangers wanted another young Dutch player on their books as Van Bronckhorst confirms he tried to bring Chelsea talent Ian Maatsen to Glasgow.
Van Bronckhorst: Rangers tried to sign Maatsen
At the time, we can remember strong transfer rumours between Rangers and young Chelsea starlet Ian Maatsen.
The little known Dutch left-back spent time in the Feyenoord, Sparta Rotterdam and PSV youth academies before moving to Chelsea in 2018.
Maatsen would then spend time on loan at Charlton, Coventry, and Burnley at various levels of the EFL pyramid before making the breakthrough at Stamford Bridge in the first half of this season.
Now, Giovanni van Bronckhorst has told the Dutch media that he tried to bring Maatsen to Rangers, presumably in the summer of 2022 before the left-back joined Burnley.
Having just joined Borussia Dortmund on loan in January, the Telegraph are reporting that Chelsea hope to bank an astonishing £35m on the 22-year-old who has impressed in the Bundesliga and Champions League.
The left-back looks set to have booked his place in the Champions League final too, Dortmund having overcome PSG 2-0 on aggregate to reach this season's Wembley showpiece.
Van Bronckhorst told Dutch football show VTBL that Maatsen was 'on my list' at Rangers but 'in the end it didn't work out'.
Transfer failed doomed Rangers manager
The ambitious links to Ian Maatsen point to where it might've just gone wrong for Rangers and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
The Dutch coach was eventually sacked at the end of 2022, one year on from being appointed at Ibrox, despite guiding the club to the Europa League Final the same year.
Gio had overseen a disastrous downturn in domestic form at Ibrox, letting slip a seven point lead in the Scottish Premiership to gift the title to Ange Postecoglou's Celtic.
The Dutchman also flapped domestically the following season, and after humiliation in the Champions League, paid the ultimately penalty.
But how different might things have been had Van Bronckhorst got his way in the transfer market and had better luck with injuries.
Several of the players signed during the Dutchman's tenure struggled to make an impact and Rangers are still paying the price of injuries to high profile players like Ridvan Yilmaz, Tom Lawrence and Ben Davies.
It's something which has wounded the Dutchman, who claims he left Rangers in the 'wrong way' back in 2022.
Strongly linked with a managerial return next season, Ibrox legend Ally McCoist has claimed that Gio was 'harshly treated' at Rangers.
With the likes of Besiktas and former club Feyenoord mentioned, the former likely to lose Arne Slot to Liverpool, let's hope we see Van Bronckhorst back in the dugout before long.
The comments about Ian Maatsen also back up claims from Ross Wilson that Rangers came close to signing a young Dutch player back in 2022.
