Rangers’ busy summer spending spree continues at Ibrox. Indeed, since Russell Martin’s appointment at Ibrox, the Gers have made six new signings to date, most recently bringing in Nasser Djiga on a season-long loan.
He follows Lyall Cameron, Max Aarons, Joe Rothwell, Emmanuel Fernandez and Thelo Aasgaard through the arrivals’ door at Rangers, but are the Glasgow giants now going to get their hands on a vastly experienced new centre-back?
Rangers aiming to bolster their back line
The start of Rangers’ season is now fast approaching.
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Last Sunday, the Gers faced Club Brugge in a pre-season friendly, fighting back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Club Brugge at home, thanks to second-half goals from Mohamed Diomandé and then youngster Findlay Curtis.
No such defensive sloppiness can be afforded in just ten nights’ time when the Light Blues commence Champions League qualifying, welcoming Panathinaikos to Govan, hence why Martin is targeting even more new signings this week.
Thus, according to a report by Sky Sports News, Rangers remain interested in signing Conor Coady from Leicester City.
Earlier in the window, Pete O’Rourke of Football Insider claimed that the Gers were ‘in advanced talks’ with the Foxes, as they attempted to sign the centre-back, but this is yet to come to fruition.
As outlined by Rob Tanner of the Athletic, Leicester are actively looking to get some of their highest earners off the books, following their relegation back to the EFL Championship, so will surely be quite accommodating, as they too want this deal to get over the line.
Thus, it remains very possible that Coady will make the move to Rangers but, with Panathinaikos on the horizon, Martin will be eager for this deal to get done sooner rather than later.
How Conor Coady would improve Rangers defence
Right now, Rangers have seven senior centre-backs on their books, although this could be down to six, after a bid was accepted for Robin Pröpper, who is seemingly on his way back to FC Twente, as confirmed by Martin.
So, here are the options Martin currently has in his squad.
John Souttar
28
2022
94
Ben Davies
29
2022
58
Clinton Nsiala
21
2024
13
Leon King
21
2020*
42
Nasser Djiga
22
2025
Zero
Emmanuel Fernandez
23
2025
Zero
*King made his senior debut in 2020.
As the table outlines, there is not a huge amount of experience among Rangers’ current central-defenders but, given that he played in both the Champions League for Crvena zvezda and the Premier League for Wolves last season, Djiga has surely arrived to be first-choice.
Alongside, John Souttar is probably in pole position to partner the new arrival, having made 40 appearances for the club last season, accumulating 3,411 minutes, the most he has ever enjoyed in a single campaign of his injury-blighted senior career.
Thus, Coady’s potential arrival would probably be particularly bad news for the Scotland international, banishing him to the bench.
James Tarkowski, who played alongside Coady at Everton, labelled him a “great leader”, while his manager at Goodison, Sean Dyche, heralded his “immaculate” professionalism.
Meantime, Adam McNulty of Breaking the Lines praised his ability ‘to pick out a runner’, documenting his outstanding distribution, supported by the fact that, in the 2019/20 Premier League season, Coady completed more accurate long passes than anybody else.
Given that new manager Martin’s style of play prioritises control through possession, this could be an invaluable asset to have at the back.
But how do his statistics compare to those of Souttar? Let’s find out.
Appearances
43
40
Minutes
3,103
3,411
Passes Attempted
73.45
56.95
Passing Accuracy %
92.48%
86.4%
Forward Passes
25.6
20.9
Tackles Made
0.8
0.8
Aerial duel success %
51.91%
68.06%
Ground duel success %
57.22%
69.43%
Clearances
3.6
6.9
Interceptions
0.9
0.7
Ball recoveries
3.5
2.7
Touches
81.9
70.45
First and foremost, it is worth noting that the last two seasons were included for Coady due to his lack of action at Leicester, thereby providing a larger sample size.
With that in mind, the Englishman comes out on top for the vast majority of metrics included when compared to Souttar, notably attempting, on average, 17 more passes per 90, as well as five more forward passes.
Defensively too, Coady accumulated more interceptions and ball recoveries, while taking 11 more touches per game, underlining that he is a good fit for a Rangers team who, domestically, dominate possession but, in Europe, are forced to do a lot more defending.
Thus, this signing appears to be an absolute no-brainer for the Light Blues, one that they should do everything in their power to finalise as soon as possible.
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