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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
Rangers are close to signing Bologna defender Filip Helander, according to Swedish outlet Sportbladet.
What’s the story?
The report states that only formalities remain as a barrier in the transfer, with the player and two clubs said to have agreed to the Swedish international’s switch this summer.
The quoted fee is 50m Swedish Krona (£4.25m), which would obviously make it one of the most significant signings at the club in recent years, with many arrivals at Ibrox recently signing after their contracts expired at other clubs.
It comes after Steven Gerrard revealed the Gers were close to an “imminent” permanent signing at centre-back, telling The Evening Times he was hoping to get a deal concluded by the end of the week, although he was careful not to name the mystery player.
The comments certainly appear to fit the reported move for Helander and it’ll be interesting to see how any potential transfer proceeds from here.
Helander’s profile
The 6 foot 4 defender has won ten caps with Sweden, starting his country’s last four matches in Euro 2020 qualifying.
Having won two league titles with Malmo, he moved to Italy to play with Hellas Verona, before he was eventually snapped up by Italian top-flight outfit Bologna.
In total he has 84 Serie A appearances to his name, suggesting he would be more than comfortable competing at Scottish Premiership level.
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Rangers need another centre-back to complement Connor Goldson, Nikola Katic and George Edmundson, with the reported fee involved likely to make him a starter in Gerrard’s team, perhaps bad news for Katic.
His profile certainly makes him, at face value, a more ambitious signing than we’ve seen at Ibrox in recent years and if they can get this over the line, it’ll demonstrate they are in the market to significantly strengthen their squad this summer.
