4 days ago
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€23m biggest departure
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Hamza Igamane is destined to depart Rangers this summer with Lille currently leading the race for the Morocco international. Transfermarkt understands that Rangers have received no official bids for Igamane but the talented attacker’s representatives have agreed personal terms with Lille. Rangers unearthed a diamond in Igamane from Moroccan side AS Far and signed him for €2.36 million last summer but they’ll land a substantial profit just 12 months later.
It’s understood that an initial fee around €15m will bring Rangers to the negotiation table with potential add-ons taking the deal beyond €20m. Sell-on clauses are almost guaranteed in deals of this nature with high potential players and Rangers will aim to secure future incentives. While Lille are actively pursuing a deal for Igamane, Marseille are also monitoring the 22-year-old and there’s been tentative interest from English Premier League clubs. Rangers will hope that several clubs firm up their interest in Igamane with formal offers, which could result in a bidding war and the Moroccan will become one of Rangers’ record sales.
Rangers’ record transfer sales
After moving from Africa, Rangers afforded Igamane time to adapt to the demands of European football but his immense potential was clear to see. While he remains raw in some aspects and can improve his work-rate and consistency, Igamane excelled in spells with 16 goals in 46 games - the Moroccan also impressed in the Europa League, which is a significantly higher standard than the Scottish Premiership. A US-based consortium, fronted by chairman Andrew Cavenagh recently completed their takeover at Rangers and it’s paramount they improve the club’s dreadful record of selling players. As the graphic below illustrates, Rangers have only sold one player for a fee in excess of €15m in their history - Calvin Bassey’s €23m move to Ajax in 2022.
If Rangers can net an initial fee of €15m, or higher, for Igamane - which is viewed as realistic - then the Moroccan would become their second most expensive departure in history, eclipsing Nathan Patterson’s move to Everton. Only three of Rangers’ top ten sales have arrived since 2020 - Bassey, Patterson and Joe Aribo - and they simply must improve their player trading model to close the gap to Celtic. As the graphic below illustrates, Celtic (€171.3m) have raised €106.3m more than Rangers (€65m) in player sales across the previous five seasons. While Bassey is Rangers’ only sale in excess of €15m, Celtic have sold seven players for fees above that total.
