Rangers’ two bites at the Cherries as Ofoborh set to follow Simpson
Rangers have clinched a precontract deal for Bournemouth defender Jack Simpson - and Cherries boss Jason Tindall revealed Nnamdi Ofoborh is also on his way to Ibrox.
Steven Gerrard tried and failed to lure Simpson to Glasgow last year but the Rangers manager has now got his man, with the 24-year-old due to make his free-transfer switch to Glasgow on 1 July.
The centre-back, who can also fill in at left-back, came through the Bournemouth academy and has made 35 first-team appearances, including 12 this season.
And he is likely to have a familiar face alongside him when he meets his new teammates this summer after Tindall confirmed Rangers are close to agreeing terms with Ofoborh too.
The 21-year-old has made five appearances for the Championship outfit this season after getting his first taste of first-team football on loan at Wycombe last season.
"The conversations I've had with Nnamdi, I think they're down the line on that one," said Tindall. "I know it's a club he would want to go and play for. He's not as far down the line as Jack is, but I think he's close to agreeing things to also go to Rangers."
Rangers need just eight wins to clinch their first title in a decade and a crack at next season's Champions League. Tindall admitted that was too big a lure for Simpson to turn down, having seen a potential loan move fall through last season.
"It's a shame we're losing him, we wish him all the best," he said. "I'm really pleased he's going somewhere where he feels he's going to be happy and progress his career.
"Stevie Gerrard wanted him on loan last season, but at the time the club didn't let him go and he missed the opportunity. So I imagine they have been tracking him ever since. Where Jack was a year ago to where he is now, well he's a lot better player.
"Rangers are certainly heading in the right direction and I think that was a big pull for Jack - and for Nnamdi if he finalises that switch as well. Jack had to fight for an opportunity here and now he'll go to Rangers and fight for the opportunity to play there."
Steven Gerrard has finally got his man – two and a half years after his interest in Bournemouth’s Jack Simpson was revealed.
Back in August 2018, the defender was a 21-year-old with four appearances to his name and then Cherries manager Eddie Howe was keen for him to head out on loan for experience – but Simpson remained on the south coast while Rangers landed Joe Worrall on loan from Nottingham Forest instead.
Since then, Simpson has accumulated 35 appearances across all competitions, entrusted to hold out against top end attacks from the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League, and more recently, in the Championship.
Tracing his progression, it’s easy to see what has attracted Gerrard to the versatile defender praised for his passing ability, but who can also sweep up at the back – he has a wyscout rating of 66 per cent for defensive looseball duels this term.
Simpson will join Rangers in the summer after signing a pre-contract agreement. A centre-half by trade, he has admitted he’s more suited centrally, but can slot in at left-back.
“I've played left-sided centre-half so I've seen what leftbacks do," he said. “I do a lot of work with them so I think it's important when you're training to know more than one position. I think it's a good thing to be versatile.”
Having been with Bournemouth since the age of 12, Simpson scored on his debut for the Cherries, against Middlesbrough in the 2017 EFL Cup, and has been praised for the strength of his passing game.
According to Whoscored. com he has a pass-percentage of 84.6, which matches Connor Goldson’s domestic statistic in the Scottish Premiership, and betters the Rangers mainstay’s Europa League stats. It’s also just slightly below Filip Helander’s passing success-rate of 85.8 in the SPFL too.
“He’s got that rare composure on the ball,” said former boss Howe. “I remember one of the early performances he gave at Chelsea, as good a performance I’ve seen with the ball from a centre-half in a long, long time.
“He’s got that ability to find passes under pressure. He seems to rise to the occasion, which is a great quality to have mentally.”
Long passes, a trait exploited frequently from Rangers’ backline and particularly Goldson’s diagonals, doesn’t stack up quite so much – a 2.8 per game ranking is more similar to Helander’s 2.4 per game average than Goldson’s 5.4 domestic completion rate and 4.7 in the Europa League. But three quarters of his passes into the final third have been successful this season, according to wyscout.
So Simpson looks capable of holding his own, once he settles into Scottish football.
A year ago, Howe admitted all that was missing from Simpson’s game was minutes. In January 2020 the Bournemouth boss said: “Physically he’s good. He’s six foot three, he can head the ball and is athletic. He does have everything – the only thing missing for Jack is the experience that a lot of the other players have.”