Rangers make £3.5m loss with international now being linked to Serie A
According to the Glasgow Times, the Swedish international centre-back, 30, will turn
down a return to Allsvenskan outfit Malmo over a move to the Italian top flight this
summer.
The report also makes mention of the £3.5m Rangers paid to bring Filip Helander from
Italy and Bologna in 2019, with the defender spending an injury-plagued four seasons at
Ibrox.
Rangers fans didn’t see Helander at all last season, whilst the centre-back only made 11
appearances the season before.
In total, across four seasons Filip Helander only played 60 games for Rangers which,
when you consider Connor Goldson played 207 in the same period, is quite simply a
disastrous return for the money paid.
You just know Filip Helander is going to find fitness and form in Italy after suffering a
devastating run of injuries at Rangers and there’s nothing left to do but wish him the
best of luck at Cagliari.
Filip Helander touted for Italy return after Rangers release
Once touted for a big money transfer, Rangers made a substantial eight-figure loss on
the centre-back in yet another damning indictment of the club’s often stuttering player
trading model.
One of several high profile players released in the summer, Rangers also missed big
opportunities with the likes of Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos, who were the subject of
megabucks interest earlier in their Ibrox careers.
Whilst Rangers fans will point to the positive impact Filip Helander made when he
moved to Scotland from Italy, there can be no doubting there is substantial regret
around the player.
Even if the centre-back helped the club to 55, the only season where we saw the defender
consistently, Helander’s chronic absences also had a dramatic impact on the playing
squad.
Last season, Rangers’ defensive crisis turned into a nightmare with all four senior
centre-backs spending substantial time on the sidelines and the team collapsing in
Europe and domestically.
This time around, Michael Beale is determined to avoid a repeat but the Rangers
manager’s latest comments suggest the move for one defender might actually be off the
table.
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Dundee United transfer latest as Ilmari Niskanen could depart amid Finnish fear while centre-back timeline revealed
The Finland international may be on the move as more comings and goings are
anticipated in Tayside.
Jim Goodwin has admitted Ilmari Niskanen could leave Dundee United in a bid to
safeguard his place in the Finland squad.
The winger returns from injury and will go into the United squad for tonight’s Viaplay
Cup clash at Falkirk. Tangerines boss Goodwin has confirmed Niskanen has concerns
that playing in the Championship could impact his international prospects. The 25-year-
old has broken back into the Finland team and has already held talks with national coach
Mark Kanerva over his situation.
Goodwin said: “Ilmari has one or two little niggles. I’d imagine he would be back in the
squad and we will try to get him some minutes. Ilmari is still here and a part of it. At the
end of last season he spoke about the impact of playing in the Championship might have
on his international hopes. He has had one or two conversations with the Finnish
manager. Whether something happens with Ilmari before the window remains to be
seen but he’s still very much here and we look forward to getting him involved over the
coming games.”
There could be further big-name departures with Australia defender Aziz Behich still in
Oz and Charlie Mulgrew out of favour. The United boss added: “Behich is still in
Australia dealing with one or two things.
“There are one or two others attracting interest from elsewhere. I’d expect a little bit of
movement both ways over the coming days and weeks.”
Goodwin hopes to add another central defender this week and he said: “It’s the final bit
of the squad we need to strengthen. We have two players in every position in the squad
but at right-sided centre-half we only have young Ollie Denham.
“That is the one area we’re looking at. Hopefully it’ll be done Tuesday or Wednesday and
we can get him into the squad for the weekend.”
United aim to sign out of their disappointing Viaplay Cup campaign on a high. They lost
their opening two games to Spartans and Partick Thistle, putting extra pressure on
Goodwin’s new-look team. They responded with a resounding win over Peterhead and he
is now looking for a victory at Falkirk.
Goodwin said: “It was nice to get back to winning ways. We had a couple of
disappointing results and so it was nice to get a few goals and keep the clean sheet. It
was a really good performance but we’re not getting carried away, it’s a game we should
be winning.
“I’ll be looking for a continuation against Falkirk. Another win would be nice to keep the
momentum going and carry on building up the confidence.
“We’ll mix it up and make some changes again. We’ll try to get more minutes for players
who haven’t played as much as they’d have liked.”
New signing Louis Moult gives United more attacking options and Goodwin added: “We
have a friendly with Carlisle on Saturday again, another opportunity to look at things to
get us into good shape going into the Arbroath game a week on Friday.”
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