Rangers back in for £4m ‘real goalscorer’ likened to Edin Dzeko after 2023 chase
It’s been over a week since claims surfaced that Rangers were’very close’ to acquiring a £5 million striker as the latest addition to their hectic summer window at Ibrox. Maybe it wasn’t so close after all. Rangers, who began talks with the Rapid Bucharest forward a fortnight ago, may not be as far down the road as speculations suggested, with things quieting down in recent days about Albion Rrahmani’s potential arrival on the blue side of Glasgow.
Further doubts have arisen as a result of rumors that Rangers are now pursuing a number of other centre-forward prospects. According to sources closer to Ibrox, including the Daily Record, Philippe Clement’s team is close to signing Hamza Igamame from RAF Rabat. A deal worth up to £3 million less than Neil Lennon’s Rapid’s asking price for Rrahmani. Petar Ratkov, another famous face, is also worth watching out for.
Rangers still chasing Serbia striker Petar Ratkov
Heavily linked with Rangers in the summer of 2023, Give Me Sport‘s Ben Jacobs report that the Red Bull Salzburg poacher remains high on the radar 12 months’ on.
Ratkov opted to follow in the footsteps of Erling Haaland and co when he enrolled in the Red Bull finishing school a year a back but, as yet, life at a taurine-powered club has not given him his wings.
Ratkov piqued Rangers’ interest with 14 goals for Serbian club TSC in 2022/23, but he only managed five in 33 Salzburg appearances. The Scottish Premiership runners-up are still interested, possibly in the belief that an unsuccessful debut season in Austria will make Red Bull Salzburg amenable to a sale. Leeds United, looking for a replacement for the increasingly injured Patrick Bamford, as well as Salzburg’s German sister club RB Leipzig, are both interested.
“Ratkov’s main strengths are his incredible anticipation and understanding of the game.” He reminds me of Edin Dzeko. “He’s a true goalscorer,” a Serbian reporter who knows the 20-year-old well told Laola1. “He understands exactly where he has to be and where his teammates are.
“His better foot is on the right, but he’s scored a lot of goals with his weaker left foot, which is a huge strength for a striker his age. It even made him the number one choice for free-kicks at TSC this season.”
Rangers want another striker
Ratkov, at 6ft 4ins, would give Rangers a different dimension in the final third. Clement has the hard-working Danilo and the aggressive Cyriel Dessers, but Ratkov’s height and agility could come in handy. Half of his Salzburg goals were scored with his head. As such, Ratkov may thrive with the service provided to him from out wide by James Tavernier, Ridvan Yilmaz, and new recruit Jefte Vital.
Speaking to Kicker, the former Serbia international is proud of his ‘pressing’ skills. Clement will be pleased, since he wants his teams to defend from the front. “Things have been going very well recently,” Ratkov stated in the spring, after playing in the Champions League and scoring the Austrian Bundesliga’s fastest goal in five seconds.
“But I’m confident that I can still improve. “Playing in the Champions League has always been a childhood dream of mine.” It seems unlikely that I will ever play on this enormous platform, especially considering I am from a small country and league. And it was fantastic to be able to fight against such teams and athletes. “I really enjoyed it and would like to experience it again.”
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