Rangers eye move for “impressive” Diomande upgrade

Fair to say, Rangers boss Philippe Clement has plenty of work to do in the January transfer window.

Ahead of the New Year’s Old Firm derby coming up at Ibrox on Thursday afternoon, the Gers are a whopping 14 points adrift run away league leaders and fierce rivals Celtic.

The last-gasp defeat at St Mirren on Boxing Day, followed by a 2-2 draw at Motherwell three days later, has cranked up the pressure on Clement, hence why he’ll be looking to recruit reinforcements this month.

Rangers interested in new midfielder

According to a report by reporter Ižak Ante Sučić for Germanijak, Rangers, as well as Club Brugge and AZ Alkmaar, are interested in signing Varaždin midfielder Leon Belcar.

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They add that the 22-year-old is contracted to the Croatian club until 2026, but that they plan to “make a lot of money on him”.

Varaždin president Dražen Vitez claims he is yet to receive any official bids for Belcar, only willing to sell his most-prized asset for in excess of €700,000 (around £580,000), with Karlo Lusavec’s move to Danish outfit Horsens being used as a benchmark.

So who is Belcar, and how would he fit into Rangers’ team?

Where Leon Belcar would fit in at Rangers

Belcar is a 22-year-old defensive midfielder, operating at the base of Varaždin’s back-line, starting all but one of their HNL matches this season, the only one he’s missed being as a result of a suspension.

Despite his defensive instincts, Belcar has scored three goals during this campaign to date, most-recently firing home from the edge of the area during a 2-1 victory over Šibenik in late November.

At international level, he’s earned six caps for Croatia’s U21s, although he won’t be adding to that tally, given that the Mladi Vatreni were heartbreakingly beaten by Georgia on penalties, thereby missing out on a place at this summer’s U21 Euros in Slovakia.

Instead, could Belcar spend 2025 acclimatising to life in Glasgow? Let’s see how he compares to Rangers’ two most-used central midfielders.

As outlined above, Nicolas Raskin comes out on top for most of the metrics included, but that should not be too surprising given his excellent form this season, with former Rangers defender Alan Hutton describing the Belgian as “brilliant”, adding that he has to be the first name on the teamsheet in midfield.

However, Belcar does compare favourably to Mohamed Diomandé, who’s made 28 appearances across all competitions so far, including starting seven of the eight Champions League or Europa League matches.

But this is exactly why Belcar – whose numbers are still “really impressive” in the eyes of Scottish football content creator Kai Watson – would be a success. He’s a different style of midfielder; Raskin excels out of possession, while the young Croat is at his best on the ball.

Rangers do have somewhat recent history when it comes to signing talent from the Croatian top-flight, with mixed success.

Following a Europa League qualifying victory over Osijek in 2018, Steven Gerrard was so impressed with what he saw he signed two of the White and Blues’ players.

Eros Grezda’s 17-game stint at Ibrox was, at best, unmemorable, but the other member of this double-deal was Borna Barišić, who would make 236 appearances for the Gers, becoming a cult hero, a key figure as they won the Premiership title in 2021 and then reached the Europa League Final the following season.

That same summer seven years ago, Nikola Katić joined from Slaven Belupo Koprivnica and, while he was far from a major success, his headed winner at Parkhead in December 2019 means he will never be forgotten.

Thus, Belcar could become the latest Croatian to make his mark in Govan.

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