Rangers are having a quiet winter in terms of transfer business, unlike their Old Firm rivals Celtic who have already roped in three new names. However, a few players are rumouredly on their radar including the Royal Antwerp centre-back William Pacho, Belgian outlet Het Nieuwsblad understands.
The Light Blues scouted the 21-year-old Ecuadorian extensively in recent months. He was also a part of his nation’s senior squad that travelled to Qatar to participate in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Despite remaining as an unused substitute in all three group-stage encounters, the youngster is tipped to make it big in Europe in the forthcoming future.
Rangers, however, are not alone in the hunt. AS Monaco are also weighing up a move for the defensive prodigy who is contracted at Antwerp until the summer of 2026. He left his boyhood side Independiente del Valle around a year ago and joined the Belgian outfit for a fee in the region of €2.87m. With 27 appearances across competitions, Pacho is now a regular for them in the heart of the backline.
The Gers are nine-point behind league leaders Celtic in the Premiership standings. They have shown signs of improvement under Michael Beale who replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst as the Ibrox chief, but the new boss must figure out a few things to accelerate the transition. Reclaiming the coveted crown is highly unlikely, nevertheless, the club could at least make some exciting additions en route to attaining greater glory in the long run.
Why Rangers Should Step Up The Chase
Rangers are currently well-equipped in deep defence. But they underwent a serious crisis amid injuries to Connor Goldson, Ben Davies, Filip Helander and John Souttar. 18-year-old Leon King stepped in the absence of the senior stars, also on-loan USMNT international James Sands was deployed as a makeshift centre-half early into the season. Goldson and Davies are now back in action, but the nightmare continues for Souttar and Helander who are yet to regain match fitness.
Souttar joined the Gers in the summer, and therefore, deserves more time to prove his worth. But the same can’t be said about Helander who has hardly managed a run of games in the recent past. King is too young to feature week in week out, whereas Sands should be treated as a midfield option if his loan deal is converted into a permanent transfer. It remains to be seen now whether the Light Blues splash the cash for this emerging South American talent.
