The Ipswich Town centre-back rejected Rangers in 2013 – and they ended up with one Bilal Mohsni.
Rangers could face one hell of a fight if they want to upgrade their often-calamitous backline with the signing of Scotland international centre-back Christophe Berra.
According to the Edinburgh News, the 32-year-old has his heart set on a return to Scotland eight years after leaving his homeland for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Rangers will reportedly attempt to blow their transfer rivals out the water with an enticing financial package.
However, it’s the identity of those transfer rivals that could leave Rangers disappointed and lumbered, for now at least, with the much-maligned Rob Kiernan and Philippe Senderos.
Berra was reared through the Hearts academy, starting his career with the Edinburgh club and eventually becoming their youngest ever captain. It’s no surprise, then, that he harbours quite an affection to Tynecastle and, as Edinburgh News report, is enticed by a potential return.
Nonetheless, if Rangers need any more motivation to pull out the stops and bring the experienced defender to Ibrox, perhaps they should remind themselves of the events of 2013.
According to the BBC, Berra considered signing for Rangers four years ago before eventually following Mick McCarthy from Wolves to Ipswich. This, therefore, forced then-manager Ally McCoist to plump for a certain Bilal Mohsni as the club aimed to engineer an escape from the Scottish third tier.
And it’s fair to say the former Southend centre-back will forever be remembered at Ibrox. Though not necessarily for the right reasons. Headbutting Derby’s Chris Martin in a pre-season friendly, copping a three-game ban for an altercation against Hibernian, Mohsni took ‘commitment’ and ‘passion’ to another level.
However, once he was suspended for seven matches for inciting a brawl against Motherwell, Rangers probably realised the time was right to cut ties with the Tunisian.
If only they’d signed Berra in the first place.
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