Cammy Devlin could not hide a wry smile when asked if he was confident of being a surefire starter for Rangers following his summer switch from Heart of Midlothian. The 28-year-old Australia international returned from the World Cup to find a dressing room already overflowing with central midfielders. His first couple of training sessions were a reminder of the plethora of players competing for the berths at Ibrox, and media questions at his first public press conference also emphasised the number of players in his position still being linked with a possible summer transfer.
Rangers have signed seven players this summer, three of them central midfielders, while none of their 11 departures are in that position. They already had six on their books – nine if you include three who were out on loan. Manager Derek McInnes hopes to complete a couple more deals, though not necessarily midfielders, before they start their season away to Dundee United on Friday evening.
“Cammy Devlin finds nine rivals for one defensive midfielder role at Rangers.”
Among the attacking midfielders are Thelo Aasgaard, who has just been to the World Cup with Norway, and Nedim Bajrami, who has failed to become a regular starter in his two years at Ibrox. Jose Cifuentes, Lyall Cameron and 20-year-old Paul Nsio have returned from loans at Toronto, Aberdeen and Raith Rovers respectively without suggesting they are ready to make the step up. Ivory Coast international Mohamed Diomande is more a box-to-box man, while Nicolas Raskin has looked more effective pushing forward despite preferring to play just in front of the defence.
It was in that latter role that Raskin received rave reviews at the World Cup, making it ever more likely that Rangers will look to cash in this summer on a player who has expressed his desire to move to a top-five league. Given Raskin’s anticipated exit, it was no surprise McInnes would look to snap up Devlin, especially as he was available for free. But Rangers have also added two more defensive midfielders: Dan Neil, who was out of contract with Sunderland, and Vanja Dragojevic, purchased from Partizan, where he was captain at the age of just 20. That is before considering two more defensive midfielders already on Rangers’ books. The fight for one spot just got even more crowded.