It was an opportunity too good to turn down.
Amad Diallo. A £19 million signing for Manchester United just 12 months earlier. A thrilling young forward who exploded onto the scene in Serie A amid comparisons with none other than Lionel Messi.
It’s not every day a player of this ilk becomes available to a club plying their trade in the Scottish Premiership.
Diallo arrived at Rangers near the end of the January transfer window, the Glasgow giants seizing the chance to sign one of Europe’s most intriguing attacking talents.
A 19-year-old brimming with speed, skill, potential and promise. A fleet-footed forward ideally suited to Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s wing-heavy style of play.
The very definition of a ‘low-risk, high-reward’ signing.
But the excitement that accompanied Diallo’s sudden and unexpected arrival should not distract from the fact that the former Atalanta wonderkid is a short-term solution to an existing problem.
He will return to Old Trafford in May. There is no option-to-buy clause in his contract.
This means, when the summer rolls around, Rangers will find themselves in a familiar position. Scouring the market for a new right-winger.
Who will replace Man United loanee Amad Diallo at Rangers?
And this is where Francis Amuzu comes in.
A long-standing transfer target – Rangers first made a move for Amuzu in Steven Gerrard’s heyday – the Ghana-born Belgium U21 international remains on their radar two years on.
Rangers scouted Amuzu in November. And, according to Voetbal24, the 22-year-old speedster is open to the idea of swapping Anderlecht for Ibrox.
Especially with game-time, at the Belgium giants, proving increasingly hard to come by.
“I love the game and I continue to work hard every training,” Amuzu told De `Zondag this week. “I’ll get out of the slump.”
Will Francis Amuzu finally move to Ibrox?
He’s been left out of Vincent Kompany’s starting XI for each of Anderlecht’s last four Jupiler League games. Amuzu came off the bench just six minutes from the end in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over KRC Genk.
There are two ways to look at this, from a Rangers perspective. On one hand, a deal should be more straightforward than it might have been, with Amuzu frustrated with life at Anderlecht.
On the other, if he was living up to expectations in Belgium, he’d be playing far more regularly for a club trailing 12 points adrift of top spot.
“Like everyone else, I need confidence,” Amuzu adds. We’ll see at the end of the season (where my future lies).”
Amuzu has a £3.6 million release clause in his contract. If Rangers are willing to pay, Anderlecht will be powerless to prevent their latest in a long line of exciting academy graduates heading for the exit.
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