Ranger “Rolls Royce” Clement has to give up after Balogun & Cordoba d
The head of recruitment for Glasgow Rangers, Nils Koppen, and manager Philippe Clement appear to be planning a busy summer of business during the impending transfer season.
To strengthen their defensive options, they have already taken steps to permanently sign Brazilian left-back Jefte from Fluminense, and they are nearing an agreement to sign center-back Jose Cordoba from Levski Sofia.
This week, the Panama international is set to finalise his permanent move to Ibrox. Meanwhile, Clement has chosen to keep hold of experienced defender Leon Balogun, who just inked a one-year contract extension.
This implies that, with Connor Goldson, John Souttar, and Ben Davies already committed, Rangers will have one extra centre back in their lineup for the upcoming campaign.
In light of this, the young defender Leon King must be mercilessly dropped from the team by the Belgian head coach, who will probably move him down the ladder.
Why it’s time to fire Leon King this summer
Prior to the January transfer window, The Daily Record revealed that Clement was willing to send the young player out on loan for the second half of the campaign since he could not promise him playing time.
The Scotland youth international, however, did not receive a call-up, and following the year’s start, he appeared in just three games across all competitions.
The 20-year-old sensation finished the 2023–24 season with just five league appearances in the Scottish Premiership, as the table above illustrates.
King, who was once called a ‘Rolls Royce’ by former Giants full-back Alan Hutton, is not learning on the pitch by spending much of his time on the sidelines or in the spectators as opposed to playing every week for the first team.
This is the reason Clement needs to get rid of the £8k-a-week defender from the team this summer, either permanently or on loan, because he won’t have much playing time the next season.
Why King is not happy about the deals in Cordoba and Balogun
In the hierarchy, he was behind Daves, Souttar, Balogun—who recently inked a new contract—and Balogun already. It’s possible that Cordoba is now behind him as well.
Given that King, 35, played nine more league games and over 900 more minutes overall this season, the Nigerian defender’s new contract may imply that he stays ahead of King.
It would be strange for Rangers to sign Cordoba, a 22-year-old centre defender, and not plan for him to play frequently, or at the very least be a starter.
During the 2023–24 season, the Panamanian international participated in 29 league games for Levski Sofia, recording 4.4 interceptions per contest in addition to a 64% success rate in aerial duels.
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