Glasgow Rangers officially confirmed last month that Nils Koppen has been appointed as the club’s new technical director, following his spell as head of recruitment.
The Belgian chief will continue to work with head coach Philippe Clement to form the transfer strategy at Ibrox, whilst also taking on other responsibilities on the football side of the business.
They may now be preparing their plans for the upcoming January transfer window, which opens for business next month, with potential business in and out of the club.
One player who must finally be sold by the Scottish giants is a signing that was met with excitement by former Rangers head coach Michael Beale.
The Rangers signing that excited Michael Beale
In the summer of 2023, the Light Blues swooped to sign attacking midfielder Kieran Dowell on a free transfer from English Championship side Norwich City.
Beale hailed it as a “fantastic” piece of business and stated that he was “excited” to see what the former Everton man could accomplish during his time at Ibrox.
“I am delighted to welcome Kieran to Rangers. He already has great experience in his career, with a number of Premier League appearances, and he is a player we feel will fit well into our squad and our style of football.”
The left-footed whiz arrived in Glasgow off the back of a return of 12 goals and six assists in 75 appearances for Norwich in all competitions, including one goal in 19 Premier League matches.
Dowell, however, has, unfortunately, suffered with injury and form issues throughout his time with the Light Blues so far, and must now finally be sold by Clement.
Why Kieran Dowell must be sold
The 27-year-old flop’s contract does not expire until the summer of 2026 and this means that the club cannot wait until the end of the season for his deal to expire.
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They need to find a team to take him off them in the January transfer window next month, to save Rangers £16k-per-week in wages – £832k-per-season, although it remains to be seen whether or not there are any teams who would be willing to snap him up.
He, quite simply, has not offered enough to the team in his 18 months or so at Ibrox so far, as he has yet to prove himself to be a reliable option for the club, with two goals and two assists in 20 Scottish Premiership outings.
|
Kieran Dowell |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Games played |
16 |
11 |
|
Games started |
6 |
2 |
|
Unused substitute |
7 |
11 |
|
Games missed through injury |
36 |
1 |
|
Stats via Transfermarkt |
||
As you can see in the table above, Dowell has only made 27 appearances for Rangers since the start of last season, with 37 matches missed through injury.
The most concerning part of that is that he has been an unused substitute on 18 occasions by Clement and Beale combined, which shows that there have been several points where the midfielder has not been deemed good enough to even come on as a substitute.
With this in mind, Clement must finally bin the Gers flop when the January transfer window opens for business, because Dowell has not done enough on the pitch to prove his worth to the club.
Potentially raking in a fee for the former Norwich man and getting rid of his £16k-per-week wages could, then, open the door for Koppen to bring in a fresh recruit to bolster the group ahead of the second half of the season.
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