1 week Ago By Ryan Rowe
NILS KOPPEN has admitted Rangers DID try to re-sign Abdallah Sima in the summer transfer window. The Senegalese winger spent the 2023-24 campaign on loan at Ibrox and it 16 goals in 40 appearances. 5 Abdallah Sima scored 16 goals during his loan spell at Rangers Credit: Willie Vass 5 Nils Koppen wanted to bring him back to Ibrox this season Credit: Willie Vass 5 But he joined Brest instead - and Koppen has revealed why the Gers deal collapsed Credit: Getty It could have been more if not for injuries and there was clamour from many Gers fans to make another move for the Brighton forward, whether that be on a permanent basis or another loan.
In the end, the former £7m man joined Brest in Ligue 1 on a season-long loan instead. Rangers recruitment chief Koppen has explained what happened behind the scenes as he sought to set the record straight with fans who felt the club didn't make an attempt to bring the Senegal star back to Glasgow . Koppen detailed the club had an "ambitious" plan for their summer rebuild and managed to pull most of it off.
Read more Rangers stories 'FREE HIM' Forgotten Rangers star pops up with two goals in B team clash ED STRONG Man City superstar Ederson spotted taking tips from Rangers goalkeeper He said: “It was a very ambitious plan and I think we executed around 80% of that plan on the incoming side. “Was the plan more ambitious than we executed? Yes, but in my opinion you always have to set the bar quite high. “Sticking to a philosophy is really important, rather than changing during a window because you’re panicking.
“After the January window, we built a plan. Looking at the blueprint of the team, the money required to rebuild, how that would be generated by outgoings based on squad value and the extra funds required to make it happen." Most read in Football 'FOOLISH NOT TO' Hearts boss Neil Critchley reveals plans to pick brains of Rangers hero RON MOVE Moment pitch invader darts towards Ronaldo before being hauled down by steward SCOTLAND 0 PORTUGAL 0 Ronaldo leaves in huff as battling Scots get first points on board FAMOUS FACE Rangers boss Philippe Clement spotted at Scotland vs Portugal clash He added: “The impression was that we weren’t going to go back for Sima, but that’s not the case.
“We made an effort to bring Sima back to Glasgow permanently with a good offer, a higher fee than the one we agreed for Oscar Cortes. Stunning moment ex-Rangers youngster scores 'goal of the season' from his own half on home debut “We tried to convince the player and the agent but the numbers were unrealistic so we pushed back on it." Rangers were strongly linked with Panama defender Jose Cordoba in the summer as well.
In the end he swapped Levski Sofia for Norwich City , snubbing the Scottish Premiership for the English C hampionship . According to Koppen, everything was done in dusted in terms of bringing the player to Ibrox - even attending a game against Kilmarnock as a guest of the club. But it soon became apparent that his heart simply wasn't set on a move to Scotland .
5 “A lot of work had been done and we got to a point where everything was agreed," Koppen told The Rangers Review . “The player was here in Glasgow and attended a game but we didn’t really feel that passion to come and play for Rangers. Read more on the Scottish Sun BEST BAR NAAN Two Scots Indian restaurants named among best in the world MAKING WAVES Ten Scottish chippies in the running to be crowned UK takeaway of the year “While there was an agreement in place, we decided that we can’t have a player at Rangers who has already started to doubt if this is the best place for him before he’s played a minute of football .
“It’s unfortunate because of how much work goes into the process but at the end of the day, you need to ask are we comfortable with the situation?” 5 Jose Cordoba elected to join Norwich City over Rangers Credit: Getty Our New YouTube Channel Subscribe to our new Scottish Sun Sport YouTube channel for all the latest football news, views and amazing moments. We've got every major development covered from Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and the rest of the Scottish Premiership. Plus we have TWO brilliant new podcasts to watch every week.
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