Who makes list of top 10 Rangers transfer sales?
WITH Nathan Patterson expected to eclipse the previous record transfer sale out of Ibrox this week, with the right-back Scotland internationalist expected to seal a £10m-plus deal to join Premier League side Everton, we take a look at the top 10 sales of Rangers’ history.
CLAUDIO REYNA (£4m to Sunderland, December 2001)
The American midfielder was brought to Ibrox by Dick Advocaat in 1999 after a spell in Germany with Wolfsburg and went on to make over 60 appearances for Rangers, scoring 13 times, including a memorable strike against Parma in the qualifying rounds of the 1999/00 Champions League.
DUNCAN FERGUSON (£4.4m to Everton, January 1995)
The combative forward joined from Dundee United in a £4m move back in 1993 but struggled to make a significant contribution to the first team before eventually moving to Merseyside.
Alongside Ian Durrant, Ferguson joined Everton initially on loan before the deal was eventually made permanent, with Rangers making a small profit on the striker.
TREVOR STEVEN (£5.5m to Marseille, August 1991)
Steven’s transfer to France was the joint-highest fee for a transfer involving a British player at the time, and Rangers made a considerable profit after Graeme Souness signed the winger from Everton for £1.5m two years earlier. Steven would spend only one season at Marseille however before the midfielder returned to Rangers just under a year later for £2.2m.
NIKICA JELAVIC (£6.5m to Everton, January 2012)
The Croatian striker quickly became a fans’ favourite after joining from Austrian outfit Rapid Vienna in January 2012 for £4.5m. He played an important role as he helped Rangers’ title bid over the line in 2011-12 and left Ibrox with 36 goals in 56 appearances for the club.
TORE ANDRE FLO (£6.75m to Sunderland, August 2000)
Flo remains the most expensive player purchased by a Scottish club after Rangers shelled out £12m for the Norwegian’s services but the fee proved to be something of a millstone around the striker’s neck.
The club decided to cut their losses and move the centre-forward on at a considerable loss.
Barry Ferguson (£7.5m to Blackburn, August 2003)
The central midfielder had gained the captaincy at Rangers after advancing through the youth ranks in Govan but eventually decided to test himself in the English Premier League.
Like Steven, though, Ferguson found himself back at Ibrox before long. A serious knee injury disrupted his progress at Ewood Park and 18 months after leaving Rangers, Ferguson returned in a £4.5m deal.
CARLOS CUELLAR (£7.8m to Aston Villa, August 2008)
The Spanish centre-half was something of an unknown prospect when he arrived from Osasuna in 2007 for £2.4m but when he left a year later for over three times the fee Rangers paid, he had established himself as a cult figure in Glasgow’s south side, playing a significant role in the heart of defence as Walter Smith’s side reached the UEFA Cup final in 2008.
JEAN-ALAIN BOUMSONG (£8m to Newcastle, December 2004)
Another defender whose time at Ibrox was short and sweet but one who made a big impression nonetheless. Alex McLeish snapped up the centre-half on a free transfer after his Auxerre contract expired as Boumsong put pen to paper on a five-year deal, but only a few months after he had arrived, a deal was struck to sell the Frenchman once the January window opened.
GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST (£8.5m to Arsenal, June 2001)
The current manager remains the second-highest transfer out of Ibrox after he joined the Gunners in 2001 following a successful three-year stint in Govan.
ALAN HUTTON (£9m to Tottenham, January 2008)
Should Patterson’s move to Everton go through as expected, the youngster will become the second up-and-coming Scottish right-back to earn a big-money move from Rangers to the Premier League.