Glasgow Rangers and Philippe Clement made their first signing of the summer transfer window before the end of their 2023/24 campaign last week.
Brazilian left-back Jefte was announced as a permanent arrival from Fluminense and he will now be preparing to link up with his new team for pre-season later this year.
The left-footed star looks set to compete with Ridvan Yilmaz and Robbie Fraser for the starting left-back berth for the Belgian head coach next season, having just spent the current term on loan with APOEL Nicosia in Cyprus.
Clement and Nils Koppen have already, clearly, been hard at work to ensure that they can get business done early during the transfer window to prepare the squad for the 2024/25 campaign.
Along with Jefte, Rangers are also reportedly in the market to add another left-footed defender to the group to improve their backline this summer.
Rangers close to signing left-footed colossus
Bulgarian outlet TopSport claimed over the weekend that central defender Jose Cordoba was set to undergo a medical with the Scottish giants on Monday before putting pen to paper on a deal with the club.
The report claims that the Gers are set to pay a fee of €3.2m (£2.7m) for the left-footed star, with €2m (£1.7m) paid up front and the rest in bonuses.
This comes after Football Insider recently reported that the Levski Sofia titan told his friends that he would like to complete a move to Ibrox this summer.
Their report claimed that the 6 foot 1 ace had an offer from English Championship side Norwich City on the table but decided that a transfer to Glasgow was the best option for him.
Well, as it happens, a move is now on the verge of being completed. One TEAMtalk journalist took to social media on Monday afternoon to claim he was "about to sign", with a deal seemingly now completed.
This news could be detrimental to one Rangers player, though, as Ben Davies could be ruthlessly ditched by the Belgian tactican, with the Levski Sofia star coming in to potentially take his place.
Why Ben Davies could be ditched by Rangers
Ben Davies could be moved on as he is reportedly one of the highest earner in the squad, on £27k-per-week (third-highest) per Salary Sport, and has not been a key player for the Gers.
The left-footed defender ended the 2023/24 campaign with the 20th-most minutes played (657) in the Scottish Premiership for the Light Blues, with eight appearances in total, which does not suggest that he justified his high wages.
Connor Goldson
£37k
2,696
James Tavernier
£30k
3,411
Ben Davies
£27k
657
Cyriel Dessers
£27k
2,288
Danilo
£26k
530
Stats via Salary Sport and WhoScored
Rangers Review journalist Derek Clark said in March that he would 'assume' that Davies is one of the players who the club will be looking to cash in on this summer, and added that a 'host' of teams down south would be keen to bring him back to England.
In the same YouTube video, fellow writer Chris Jack described him as "dispensable" and the signing of Cordoba could add to that notion, as Clement would have another left-footed centre-back option to call upon.
Davies has played just 35 Premiership matches in two seasons for Rangers since his permanent move from Liverpool in the summer of 2022 and should now be ruthlessly ditched from the squad, particularly if there are teams in England who are prepared to snap him up.
He has not played enough minutes on the pitch to justify his huge wages, as shown in the table above, and another player joining in his position could further limit his game time, which is another reason why the 28-year-old should be cashed in on by Clement and Koppen this summer.
Why Jose Cordoba could be a good signing for Rangers
Firstly, the Panama international has played 66 matches in all competitions for Levski Sofia since the start of the 2022/23 campaign, including 35 this term.
This shows that he has been regularly available for his team and picked consistently in the team, which means that Cordoba is match fit and reliable – something Davies has not been, as shown by his lack of game time, for the Scottish giants in the same time period.
The 22-year-old ace, who scout and analyst Petar Petrov hailed as a "shining light" for his club, could also come in as an upgrade on the English defender on the left side of the defence.
Appearances
28
8
Pass accuracy
88%
84%
Interceptions per game
4.3
0.8
Ball recoveries per game
12.1
6.9
Duels won per game
8.6
5.3
Duel success rate
53%
69%
As you can see in the table above, Cordoba has the potential to win possession back far more regularly, mainly thanks to his superb reading of the game to make interceptions, than Davies.
The Levski star, who also completed a higher percentage of his passes, could cut out opposition attacks more frequently to give Jack Butland less to do between the sticks.
He also has the quality to drive the team forward in possession. The 6 foot 1 colossus completed 1.1 dribbles per game, with a success rate of 74%, whilst Davies did not complete a single dribble in his eight outings.
This suggests that Cordoba can push Rangers forward on the ball by driving past opposition players with the ball at his feet, at an efficient rate, to bypass the press and then find teammates in dangerous positions consistently, thanks to his high pass completion rate.
Therefore, the potential is there, if he can adapt to Scottish football, for the pending £2.7m signing to come in as an upgrade on Davies in the left-sided centre-back role.
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This would then leave the former Liverpool defender even further down the pecking order, which is why Clement must ruthlessly ditch him from the squad by trying to find a club to sign him this summer.
