Signed for free, sold for £8m: Rangers truly struck gold on...

Signed for free, sold for £8m: Rangers truly struck gold on McLeish’s 6ft 3 colossus – opinion

The manager of Glasgow Rangers, Philippe Clement, has indicated that he wants to set up a player trading model at

Ibrox that would enable them to get the most money possible for players they recruit for less than market value.

in Glasgow, Clement will be able to move them up the ladder for a far higher price than what he paid initially.

Since January 2022, the Light Blues have only generated a profit on three occasions since returning to the

Premiership in 2016: with Nathan Patterson, Joe Aribo, and club record salesman Calvin Bassey.

It wasn’t always this way; in the beginning of the new millennium, Rangers were selling players on a regular basis.

One such player, Jean-Alain Boumsong, went on to bring in an incredible £8 million for the team when he was

traded to Newcastle United in 2005.

After securing a sublime treble during the 2002/03 campaign, Alex McLeish was under pressure to deliver further

success, yet financial constraints at the club meant he had to sell off some key assets.

players who were obviously closer to retirement than playing at their best.

The result of these occurrences was that the club had a terrible season. The fact that the Gers did not win a trophy

and came in second place behind Celtic by 17 points also meant that McLeish was under a lot of pressure from the

board and the fans to turn things around before the next season.

While Boumsong, who had also signed a pre-contract with the Gers in December 2003, appeared to be the largest

signing, he was able to obtain the services of Dado Prso, a finalist for the Champions League,

on a pre-contract agreement.

They had fought off interest from Liverpool, Arsenal, and Inter Milan to secure the highly rated defender, and it

would soon prove to be a lucrative decision…

Considering he had played AS Monaco and Paris-Saint-Germain only months before, the Frenchman may have

found playing against teams like Livingston, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and Dundee a culture shock, but he

settled very well to Scottish football.

Boumsong made 28 appearances for the Light Blues in the first half of the season as they significantly outperformed

the previous one. In an attempt to put even more pressure on Celtic, McLeish’s team even managed two Old Firm

victories in November while they contested for the championship.

During this time, the centre-back was still a regular in the France national team, proving just how big a coup it was to

bring him to Scotland and his performances did not go unnoticed.

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