Rangers Face Transfer Turmoil as Over £20m Worth of Talent Braces for Prolonged Absences
department can’t catch a break with the club now looking at five high-earning long-term first-team absentees through injury.
The recent returns of Ryan Jack, Tom Lawrence, and Borna Barisic might’ve been welcome boosts but once again Philippe Clement is up against it with injury problems.
We’ll be lucky to see striker pair Danilo and Kemar Roofe again this season, whilst Abdallah Sima’s returned from AFCON early with a long-term problem.
Add into the mix a long-term injury sustained by Kieran Dowell in the club’s winter training camp, and the fact Ben Davies remains sidelined, and suddenly the problems are once again beginning to mount.
That’s before we mention the situation with Jose Cifuentes, for whom some confusion reigns on the injury front.
Between them, this group of five players are highly experienced, high-earners, and, with the exception of Kieran Dowell, have high price tags attached.
Brazilian striker Danilo signed a reported £6m to join Rangers from Feyenoord in the summer, whilst Kemar Roofe has toiled with injury ever since his £4.5m move in 2020.
Abdallah Sima – who has scored 15 goals since signing on loan from Brighton in the summer – also cost the Seagulls the bones of £7m when he signed from Slavia Prague in 2021.
Whilst Kieran Dowell joined Rangers on a pre-contract following the expiration of his deal at Norwich City, Ben Davies cost £4m when he was signed from Liverpool in 2022.
That’s more than £20m of talent not currently contributing, and unlikely to really contribute in the weeks ahead, in a damning indictment of the club’s fitness record.
For a side like Rangers to be missing such substantial investment is genuinely devastating and the club are hamstrung by the situation at present – no pun intended.
Whilst it’s easy to say that Rangers need to go out and buy more players, quality investment comes at a cost and also bulks out an already stretched wage bill.
Philippe Clement has been clear that his team will change the club’s approach on the injury front but also that it’ll take time to fully remedy the situation.
Time is not something Rangers have at present with fans growing increasingly frustrated with so much on the line this season.
The transfer window certainly won’t be the panacea to the injury poison which is limiting the club and those who step up in their place have some big – and expensive – boots to fill