During the summer, we’re deprived of the game we love and made to sit through two agonising months of pre-season – split between sporadic transfer rumours and pre-season friendlies typically played on the far side of the world.
If we’re lucky, we’re spoon-fed the occasional transfer deal to keep us going. And that is exactly what has happened at Rangers.
The club recently tweeted out a photo of their latest signing captioned: “A first taste of Ibrox for Filip Helander.”
Italian football expert James Horncastle’s verdict on the player who he described as losing ‘his place as Bologna went from relegation fodder to 10th’ is barely the most glowing of recommendations, though Steven Gerrard has spoken of the player’s ‘huge profile’ being a bonus for the Gers.
A first taste of Ibrox for Filip Helander. pic.twitter.com/XpaGPH6joF
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) July 14, 2019
The Sweden international, who has 10 caps for his country, recently signed from the Serie A side for £3.5million to become Gerrard’s eight summer signing.
Helander said: “The opportunity to work with a manager like Steven Gerrard was an easy decision to make.”
Rangers fell short in the title race again last season and will be keen to ensure that their city rivals, Celtic, don’t collect their ninth Premiership title in 2019/20.
Helander will presumably replace the departed Joe Worrall, 22, who recently returned to parent club Nottingham Forest, and play alongside either Connor Goldson or Nikola Katic.
The former Malmo player, whose illustrious domestic career saw him win two league titles in his homeland, follows another defender through the door in George Edmundson, freshening up a backline that leaked seven more goals than their eternal rivals last season.
Exciting times for Rangers.
