The deadline for the summer transfer window officially passed on Friday night and Glasgow Rangers were able to bring in two new additions to Philippe Clement's squad at Ibrox.
Rangers brought in defender Neraysho Kasanwirjo on a season-long loan and secured a permanent deal for attacking midfielder Nedim Bajrami, who was playing for Sassuolo in Italy.
The Light Blues ended the summer transfer window with 11 signings added to the group, including Jefte, Liam Kelly, Mohammed Diomande, Oscar Cortes, Clinton Nsiala, Connor Barron, Vaclav Cerny, Hamza Igamane, and Robin Propper joining alongside Kasanwirjo and Bajrami.
Clement's array of fresh recruits, barring Bajrami who was unavailable, were unable to get the job done against fierce rivals Celtic in the first Old Firm clash of the season on Sunday.
The Light Blues were comfortably beaten at Parkhead in a 3-0 defeat, thanks to goals from Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi in the first half and a strike from Callum McGregor in the second 45.
It was a disappointing afternoon for the Glasgow giants and a timely reminder of how much work there is to do for Rangers to be in contention to win the Scottish Premiership title, which was not helped by their failure to sign a winger on deadline day.
Rangers failed to land Premier League forward
It was reported by Fabrizio Romano just after 10 pm on deadline day that the Gers were in 'advanced talks' to secure a deal for Southampton winger Sam Edozie.
However, the deadline passed and Rangers did not announce the signing of the talented young flanker, which meant that they failed to get a move over the line in the end.
It was then reported by The Sun that Edozie was unable to land a loan because of the Premier League side's demands. They wanted a £1m loan fee as well as wanting the team taking him to pay all of his £30k-per-week wages.
That meant that Rangers ended the window without bringing in the extra left winger that they seemingly wanted, as the 21-year-old ace is a right-footed forward who typically operates off the left – cutting inside onto his favoured foot.
Edozie has only made two appearances as a substitute in the Premier League for the Saints this season, but did contribute to their Championship promotion last term.
Appearances
32
Goals
6
Assists
3
Big chances created
1
Key passes per game
0.8
As you can see in the table above, the English wizard was directly involved in nine goals in 32 outings in the second tier as Southampton went up via the play-offs.
Clement and Koppen seemingly saw something in him that they liked, as they reportedly wanted to add him to the squad on deadline day, but a deal could not be ironed out in the end, possibly due to Southampton's huge demands.
How Rangers can forget about Sam Edozie
The Rangers manager was recently asked if he would be open to looking at the pool of free agent players to bolster his squad and confirmed that it is a "possibility", which suggests that the club are prepared to explore that route.
Of course, the summer transfer window officially slammed shut last week and that means that the Gers cannot go and sign players, permanently or on loan, from other clubs until January.
However, they can swoop to bring in free agents, who are not currently contracted to any club, to bolster their options if they decide that they do not want to wait over three months to make further additions.
The Gers could, now, assess their options in the market and see if any of the available players would bring the required quality to Ibrox to improve the squad.
Following the failure to sign Edozie on loan from Southampton in the final minutes of the window, it appears as though a left winger would be a welcome addition to the club.
With this in mind, there is one name that stands out on the current list of free agents as a potentially brilliant coup for the Light Blues if they can convince him to move to Scotland – Sofiane Boufal.
Why Rangers should sign Sofiane Boufal
Rangers should swoop to sign the Morocco international in the coming days or weeks as he has the quality to make Clement and Koppen forget all about Edozie.
The 30-year-old forward was recently with Qatar-based outfit Al-Rayyan SC but endured an injury-hit 2023/24 campaign before being released this summer.
Boufal missed a whopping 35 matches through injury and that restricted him to making just 16 appearances for the club, in which time the winger produced four goals and two assists.
This means that it would be a risky move by Rangers, due to his injury issues, but there is a reason these players are free agents and there will be an element of risk with any signing from that pool of players.
Prior to his injury-hit spell in Qatar, the left winger caught the eye with his impressive performances on the flank for Angers in the French top-flight.
Appearances
13
29
Goals
4
8
Big chances created
5
9
Assists
3
4
Key passes per game
2.1
1.9
As you can see in the table above, Boufal produced 12 goals and created 14 'big chances' in two Ligue 1 seasons, whilst creating around two chances per game on average.
The forward would also arrive at Ibrox with Premier League experience under his belt, having racked up four goals and three assists in 70 games for Southampton earlier in his career.
During his time with the Saints, Boufal scored their 'goal of the decade' with an amazing solo run and finish against West Bromwich Albion, as shown in the clip below.
The 30-year-old star, who was once hailed as "unbelievable" by former teammate Nathan Redmond, is capable of incredible quality on his day, which is also backed up by his superb contributions in Ligue 1 during the 2021/22 and 2022/23 campaigns.
Therefore, Rangers could forget about Edozie by taking a gamble on this free agent in the hope that he can recapture his form from his time in France after his injury troubles in Qatar.
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