Glasgow Rangers were linked with Devante Cole, but the striker’s January move did not take him to Ibrox.
While it was not the most eventful deadline day at Ibrox this year, some Rangers fans’ attention may just have picked up on the fact that one of their reported striker targets did seal a transfer in the final hours of the window.
The Sun reported near the start of the month that Rangers were interested in a pre-contract move for Cole as his deal at Highbury expired at the end of the season – but it appears that they ultimately missed out.
It is obviously unclear how serious Rangers’ interest did ever become, but given the size of the fee that saw Cole move to the Latics, surely it could be fair to suggest that the Scottish Premiership side perhaps missed a trick not signing the 22-year-old this month.
The Sun also reported in January that Rangers were looking at doing a deal for Tyler Roberts that would have seen the then-West Brom forward move to Ibrox in the summer for just £300,000, which is the same amount that Cole reportedly cost Wigan.
So if they were prepared to pay that amount for Roberts – who ultimately moved to Leeds United on deadline day – why were the Gers seemingly not so keen to spend the six-figure fee on Cole?
They may have been prepared to, of course, and Cole could have simply turned them down. But if they did not pursue a deal and rival the League One leaders, then that may have been a mistake given that the forward has been prolific this term, scoring 10 times in the league.
The way that transfer fees appear to be going, landing a striker who has reached double figures for the campaign already for a fee of £300,000 would have to be considered a major coup.
And with Rangers boasting two brilliant strikers, but perhaps not the depth that Graeme Murty would like, you would have to think that not doing more – if it was possible – to try and land Cole may have been a mistake.
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