Rangers are on the verge of signing Bologna defender and Sweden international Filip Helander, according to reports from the Daily Record.
What’s the story?
Steven Gerrard has made no secret that he wants to strengthen his squad this summer and it looks like it’ll just be a matter of when, rather than if, he adds to his squad again as Helander looks close to agreeing on a deal that’ll cost the Ibrox club a cool £4 million.
Helander featured 23 times for the Seria A side and has made 10 appearances for the Swedish national team and at 26 has a good few years of football in him. The potential deal has drawn praise from an unlikely source in shape of former AC Milan manager and ex-Rangers star Gennaro Gattuso: “I heard from Italy the price is around 5m Euros – and that’s a good price for him. It’s big money for Rangers but he’s a good player at that price when you consider the market at this moment.”
Gerrard’s masterstroke
Rangers’ current crop of centre-halves are strong: Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic started to look like a good partnership in the second half of the season and new signing George Edmundson comes with a good reputation at just 21-years-old. You felt any signing that Gerrard would make in this role would have to be better than an already impressive bunch and Helander has been playing at a high level for the majority of his career having made over 80 Serie A appearances as well as playing in the Champions League for Malmo in 2014.
The signing of the 26-year-old shouldn’t hamper the progress of any youngster with only Lewis Mayo close to the first team from the academy and despite impressing in pre-season is still some way away from becoming a first-team regular.
If Helander can play at a similar level to what he’d been playing in Serie A at Rangers then Gerrard might’ve found a player capable of taking his club to the next level and competing for the domestic trophies in Scotland.