Rangers have hit gold on "thunderous" star who is worth more than Taylor

Glasgow Rangers will be aiming for a solid summer transfer window under the 49ers as they seek to end their Premiership title drought.

Year after year, the club fail to improve their squad by signing players who either aren’t good enough for Rangers, or those who appear to be injury-prone and miss far too many games.

With a new era about to begin this summer, might this cycle stop? One can hope.

The Light Blues’ transfer activity has ranged from making bizarre signings – Rafael Fernandes and Kieran Dowell – along with bringing those in who failed to adapt to Scottish football – Robin Propper and Sam Lammers – over the previous couple of years.

One thing the club haven’t done for a while is sign someone who has Celtic on their C.V. However, might this change in the near future? Especially as Greg Taylor has been linked with a shock move to Ibrox this summer.

Greg Taylor has been linked with a move to Rangers

Since the end of the Second World War, only Alfie Conn, Maurice Johnston, Stephen Pressley and Kenny Miller have played for both Rangers and Celtic.

None of these players moved directly between each other, spending time somewhere else before making the move to either one of the Old Firm.

Taylor is out of contract this summer and could leave the Parkhead side for nothing. Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd has had his say on the matter and believes that the Ibrox side would be wise to make a move for the left-back ahead of next season.

“I know the rivalry between the two clubs but he’s Scottish and he ticks the boxes. You could ask the question,” said Boyd while speaking on the Scottish Sun’s YouTube channel regarding the defender.

“Is he a better player than Jefte and Ridvan Yilmaz? Well, I think he’s shown for a period of time what he can do.

“This could actually generate funds if they sold one of the left-backs. They are potentially saleable assets.”

Greg Taylor’s statistics this season

Taylor has played 36 times for Celtic this term, scoring once while providing seven assists in all competitions.

The Scot has also created eight big chances in the Premiership, while averaging 1.4 key passes per game and succeeding with 56% of his dribbles, highlighting his impressive attacking skills.

Combine this with the fact he wins 54% of his total contested duels, makes 1.5 tackles and dribbles past only 0.3 times per game, it is evident that Taylor could be a reliable signing for the Gers.

A clean injury record would also be a bonus, that’s for sure. At the time of writing, the left-back is currently valued at €4.9m (£4.2m) according to Football Transfers, meaning Celtic could be losing out on a decent transfer fee.

Signing Taylor might allow the new manager at Ibrox to offload either one of Jefte or Ridvan Yilmaz this summer in order to generate funds.

The Brazilian has endured a mixed campaign since making the move to Glasgow last summer, yet he is still valued higher than Taylor…

Why Jefte is a promising player for Rangers

The defender arrived from Brazilian side Fluminense on a four-year deal last summer as Clement sought to add some more youth prospects to his first-team squad.

He spent the 2023/24 season on loan at Cypriot side APOEL, scoring three goals and grabbing four assists across just 31 league matches for the club.

On this basis, his attacking talents were there for all to see, with Scottish content creator Kai Watson praising the defender, saying: “He always looks to drive at the opposition defence and is comfortable going outside or cutting inside.

“He’s also not afraid of having a pop at goal and has a thunderous strike in his arsenal.

“He looks like he could be a creative threat while also offering some goalscoring prowess himself.”

It certainly appears as though he has found Scottish football harder, having registered only two assists in 28 Premiership matches thus far.

He has averaged 1.1 key passes per game in the top flight, however, along with creating two big chances and succeeding with 1.1 dribbles per match. Defensively though, the youngster has been a liability on occasions.

On average, he loses possession 14.9 times per game for the Light Blues in the Scottish top flight, while the Brazilian commits 0.9 fouls per game and regularly finds himself out of position trying to create chances in the final third.

Over time, the former Fluminense starlet will mature, and his defence abilities will improve, but this has been a key weakness throughout the 2024/25 campaign. If the defender wishes to maintain his place in the squad, this is something he will need to work on, no doubt about that.

Jefte’s market valuation at Rangers

Whatever happens, should Rangers sell Jefte in the immediate future, they could rake in a decent profit on the left-back.

Indeed, according to Football Transfers, he is currently valued at €5.5m (£4.7m) and this figure will only continue to rise as time goes on.

When he made the move to Scotland, his valuation sat at less than £1m, proving that exposure to first-team football, especially in the Europa League, has allowed the player to increase his value.

Perhaps he would be best served playing in a more advanced position, which could allow the defender to play to his attacking strengths.

What is certain is that Jefte is currently worth more than Taylor according to Football Transfers and while a move for the Celtic man wouldn’t be a bad idea, might the Gers be better off developing Jefte in a position where he can contribute more effectively?

Rangers have hit the jackpot with the Brazilian defender, whose value has soared in his short time in Glasgow already, and they should avoid any controversial move for a Celtic dud to continue his development.

The summer transfer window could be an interesting time to be a supporter, especially if the 49ers takeover goes through in the next few weeks.

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