According to the latest reports from Goal, Rangers have shown an interest in signing West Ham United’s attacking midfielder Marcus Browne. Along with the Gers, Celtic and Fulham are also said to be interested. Manuel Pellegrini though is willing to test him out in preseasons for the Hammers.
Browne spent the last season on loan with League One outfit Oxford United where he impressed for them. The midfielder made 44 appearances in all competitions and contributed with nine goals and five assists. With just one year remaining on his contract, there is said to be plenty of interest in him in the transfer market.
Rangers have already started doing their business for the next season as they have secured the signings of Jordan Jones and Jake Hastie. Greg Stewart is also likely to join soon. The Gers were able to challenge Celtic in the title race up until January, but they tapered off as the season went in it’s crunch phase. They drew far too many games as they were undone by sides with stubborn defence and Gerrard’s men were unable to bypass them.
Why Rangers need an attacking midfielder?
One of the problems for Rangers was opening up defences of the team that defended in numbers and sat back. They heavily relied on Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos to come up with some magic in the final third. The team clearly lacked a creative midfielder who would score ten odd goals from midfield and will unlock defences with his smart passing.
Scott Arfield played as a no. 10 for the most part last season but he isn’t a natural in that role. Even Gerrard admitted at one point that he needs a no. 10. Therefore it makes sense for the club to target a proper attacking midfielder.
What can Browne bring at Ibrox?
The 21-year-old has come up from West Ham’s academy and has had loan spells at Oxford and Wigan so far. He never really managed to play for Wigan, but he impressed last season in the English third tier playing down the left usually. His versatility, therefore, would come in handy for the Gers.
The Englishman has impressive pace along with good strength. He is aggressive and direct in his approach, and he showed last season that he could score goals as well. However, he is still not a finished product, and Rangers need players who would hit the ground running straightaway as they cannot have too many squad fillers in their bid to stop Celtic from winning their ninth title in a row.
