‘Not true’: £2.7m man says he was never joining Rangers this summer

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Royal Antwerp winger Manuel Benson has played down speculation he was a transfer target for Rangers earlier in the transfer window while speaking to Het Nieuwsblad.

It speaks volumes about Ryan Kent’s sudden emergence as a one-man force of nature that the most influential winger in Scottish football is no longer James Forrest or Moi Elyounoussi.

The former Liverpool starlet seems to get better by the week and almost single-handedly destroyed one of Holland’s finest teams on Thursday night.

Kent was the inspiration behind a 4-0 Europa League qualification win away at Willem II, taking his personal tally to ten goals and assists in just nine games.

If former Belgium U21 international Benson had made a switch to Ibrox, he knows he’d face a challenge forcing his way into Steven Gerrard’s starting XI.

Then again, it seems reports that emerged in May via Voetbal Nieuws might have been wide of the mark anyway.

“No, no, that’s true,” Benson says when asked about Rangers’ reported interest. “And the competition would be fierce there too. 

“But I was thinking about (going) abroad.”

Benson, who was linked to Inter Milan and compared to a young Gareth Bale by his agent last year (FC Inter News), became Royal Antwerp’s record signing when he made a £2.7 million move from Genk in September 2019.