An Old Firm derby against Celtic, where the Scottish Premiership title is at stake, is hardly the best time for one Rangers player to return to the starting lineup after spending so much time on the sidelines.
However, manager Philippe Clement has confirmed that Connor Goldson’s knee injury is probably what prevented him from playing in his final game in 2023–2024. The expression “thrown in at the deep end” comes to mind as Ben Davies gets ready for his first league start since October in the highest-stakes matchup possible, especially because Leon Balogun has developed a problem of his own.
In the past seven months, former Liverpool player Davies has only played 45 minutes of top-flight football. Only last week did the much-anticipated defender make his debut, scoring from the bench in the 4-1 victory over Kilmarnock with 10 men.
But the task facing Celtic—and Rangers’ long-standing paralysis demon, Kyogo Furuhashi—is much more difficult. As if Davies wasn’t under enough pressure enough, Rangers allegedly started “advanced talks” on Thursday to sign a possible replacement.
Rangers closing in on defender Jose Cordoba
As per RangersReview, the conversations around Jose Cordoba are swiftly picking up speed.
Similar to Davies, the Panamanian international plays central defence for Levski Sofia in Bulgaria. Many clubs in the east have taken notice of Cordoba’s elegant performances, but the Glasgow giants hope to follow in the footsteps of their January acquisition of Fabio Silva and outmanoeuvre their rivals for a top target.
When asked about Cordoba’s future, Nasko Sirakov, the majority owner of Levski Sofia, stated, “There is serious interest in our players.” “To replace those who are leaving, we might need to sign over five new ones.”
“I don’t sell for a penny. (But) Jose, we won’t have the moral authority to keep him if he keeps acting this way.
He is the subject of intense interest. He and I had a talk. I advised him to consider the upcoming (few) games and the Copa America preparations. Let the club handle the remainder.
Absent from the instruction
Cordoba has one year remaining on his contract; his value is approximately £3 million. Additionally, Cordoba was not practicing with the rest of the Levski team on Friday, according to information that will intrigue fans of the Rangers published in the Bulgarian magazine DSport.
It is unclear from the article whether Cordoba has been hurt or if he has become ill. “It is believed he will be sold” is all they write during the summer transfer window.
Is there any connection between his absence and the rumours that Cordoba attended that May 5th Kilmarnock match at Ibrox? Was he in Scotland for a few more days, perhaps, looking at properties and having conversations?
Naturally, this is just conjecture. All we know is that Cordoba’s conspicuous absence from Levski Sofia’s pre-match training session occurred the day after rumours claimed Rangers had entered “advanced” talks.
GET MORE NEWS HERE
Leave a Reply