Rangers brought Florian Kamberi to Ibrox on deadline day.
Rangers new boy Florian Kamberi has told The Scottish Sun that he didn’t intend to be disrespectful towards Hibernian with his comments about his exit.
The Gers swooped on deadline day to take Kamberi on loan for the rest of the season, engineering a swap which saw Greg Docherty head to Easter Road in a similar arrangement.
Kamberi arrives to add some depth to the Rangers attack, with Jermain Defoe now ruled out, so the Albanian forward has a real chance to play regularly for Steven Gerrard.
Leaving Hibs for Rangers was always bound to spark a reaction, but Kamberi himself added some fuel to the flames after completing his move to Ibrox.
As quoted by BBC Sport, Kamberi claimed that he has been dreaming of a move to Rangers ever since he first joined Hibernian back in 2018.
Kamberi praised Ibrox as the best atmosphere he has played in, and told his agent that he wanted the move to Rangers, which hasn’t exactly gone down well with Hibs fans.
Now, Kamberi has admitted that he didn’t mean to disrespect anybody, claiming that he always showed full commitment for Hibs, but he’s ambitious and just wanted to make a move to a ‘bigger’ club.
Kamberi knows it may be difficult to head back to Hibs after those comments, meaning he may already have his eyes on a permanent move – and he wants to win the title this season.
“I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. I understand the Hibs fans thought that. But when I was at Hibs I gave 100 per cent in every game, and didn’t think about any other club,” said Kamberi. “I’m an ambitious guy, I’m young and want to make the next step. I want to go to a bigger club and I’ve done that on loan. But I was never disrespectful because Hibs fans always treated me amazingly since day one.”
“Of course it could make it difficult if and when I go back there. But they wouldn’t have been happy with any player going to Hibs from Rangers, even without those comments. But I’m an ambitious guy and I’m doing what any normal, ambitious young footballer would do. Any player who plays for a smaller club than Rangers or Celtic, and has the chance to go to one of those clubs, would take it. I have big ambitions in my career but I want to do everything step by step. It’s the dream of everyone to bring title number 55 home to Ibrox. Every player is motivated to do that. We just have to keep on believing,” he added.
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