Simon Deli is reportedly Rangers’ latest transfer target as Steven Gerrard plans to build a Scottish Premiership winning team.
Steven Gerrard didn’t exactly play his cards close to his chest.
Speaking after Tuesday’s 4-0 crushing of St Joseph’s in their Europa League qualifier, the Rangers manager admitted to the Herald that they were on the verge of signing a new defeneder.
A permanent deal was ‘imminent’, Gerrard said, with a deal expected to be signed, sealed and delivered by the end of the week.
The former Liverpool captain stopped short of naming the player in question but could it be Slavia Prague’s title-winning centre-back Simon Deli?
iSport have claimed that Rangers are mulling over whether to trigger the £1.7 million release-clause in the Ivory Coast international’s contract, though it remains to be seen whether Deli wants to stay in the Czech Republic or try his hand elsewhere.
“It’s very difficult for him. Of course, we firmly believe he will stay because we know how he matters to Slavia,” coach Jindrich Trpisovsky told Denik.
“If he didn’t have such a relationship with the club, he’d be long gone.”
Clearly, the manager is praying that Deli sticks around. So is Slavia’s president. Taking to Twitter, Jaroslav Tvrdik asked fans to flood this ‘footballing god’ with messages in order to convince him to stay with the reigning champions.
But who knows? The chance to play under a legend like Steven Gerrard and join one of Europe’s most historic club might just appeal to a defender at the peak of his powers.
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