The rangers aimed at signing a “crazy talent” instead of darling

A few huge weeks are ahead of Rangers.

After the Gers endured a miserable campaign the last time, a new manager Russell Martin has a lot of work to do if he will dethrone Celtic at the top of Scottish Première painting.

Martin’s first competition game is in charge is just over four weeks old, welcoming Panathinaikos to Ibrox in the Champions League Second qualification round, while the Light Blues will start its Prime Minister’s campaign against Motherwell in Fir Park on August 2.

Before that, the club should make countless new signatures, so are they about to strengthen their backline?

Rangers targeting a new central defender

According to a report of HRvoje Tironi in Croatian Outlet 24 SataThe Rangers are “seriously interested” to report the defender of Osijek, Luka Jelenić, faced with competition from the Portuguese outfit Vitória de Guimarães.

They add that Jelenić only joined Osijek de Varaždin for € 800,000 (around £ 685,000) a year ago, but the reliable “central defender” should be sold for serious money ”, after many “quality” performances, despite the fact that his team finished seventh in the seventh of last year.

Rangers need central defensive reinforcements, especially after He was confirmed On Friday, Leon Balogun had left the club on a free agent for Aris Limassol, where he could associate with a familiar face, namely Connor Goldson, in Cyprus next season.

So, could Jelenić prove to be a clever addition?

How Jelenić would improve the rangers

As has been widely reportedThe Rangers were strongly interested in sign Harry Darling during a free transfer this summer, since English had worked with Martin at MK Dons and SwanseaBut he chose to join Norwich City And Liam Manning instead in the championship,

This apparently saw them increase their interest in Jelenić, returning to a familiar source of talent, after having failed to convince the star of Now Canaries to move to Ibrox.

In July 2018, the Steven Gerrard team dropped Nk Osijek out of Europa League The qualifications, with Alfredo Morelos, the only scorer of Stadion Gradski VRT, before a 1-1 draw in Glasgow a week later, saw them progress.

Gerrard was so impressed by white and blues that he quickly signed two of their players.

Less said on Eros Grezda, the better, but The £ 2.2 m reported paid to guarantee the signature of Borna Barišić turned out to be a good deal, since he was going to do 236 appearances In a light blue jersey, winning the three domestic trophies, while being a key figure on the side which reached the final of the Europa League of 2022.

So, could Jelenić have a similar impact?

Well, let’s assess its statistics from the Prva HNL of this season.

As the table describes, despite the somewhat limited minutes, Jelenić ranked well for each defensive metric, as well as the precision of passage, also stressing that he is a well -balanced defender, who is particularly great for reading the game to make interceptions.

By way of comparison, darling classified 233rd in the EFL championship for plated (31) and 130th for interceptions (25), while recording a pass accuracy of 87.8%, only slightly higher than Jelenić’s figure, which suggests that the Croatian star could offer much more to the team from a defensive point of view.

Jacek Kulig of Talent of Football He label a “crazy talent”, while writer Kai Watson Describe how, at 6 feet 2 to large, Jelenić is physically imposing and has “strong” defensive capacities, while being good in possession.

In the meantime, Juan Carlos Molero Underlines how it is “difficult to beat” in defensive duels and is rarely mistaken.

Thus, while Top Target Darling, which left elsewhere, is more known, Jelenić is certainly a young defender with enormous potential, so that would be an excellent work if the Rangers are able to add it to their team.