Rangers have pulled out of a £7million deal to sign PSV Eindhoven winger Couhaib Driouech at the last minute following a problem with his medical. Terms had been agreed between all parties as under-fire manager Derek McInnes sought new additions in wide areas, but Rangers withdrew at the 11th hour when medical checks flagged an injury issue.
The 24-year-old winger was in the stands at Ibrox on Thursday night to watch Rangers get knocked out of the Europa League qualifiers by Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok. It is understood that the defeat against Jagiellonia, which drops Rangers into the Europa Conference League, had no bearing on the transfer decision. Instead, Rangers were reluctant to sanction the move after learning Driouech would be sidelined for a number of weeks.
The collapse plunges Rangers' recruitment plans into fresh chaos, with McInnes under major pressure from supporters after going four matches without a win at the start of his tenure. Rangers face St Mirren at Ibrox on Saturday afternoon in a League Cup tie, desperate to get their season back on track following their Europa League exit.
PSV response to failed transfer
PSV director of football Earnest Stewart explained yesterday how the move broke down due to differing assessments of Driouech's injury duration. "In short, we believed that Couhaib would be fit again very soon," Stewart said. "He had suffered a minor injury and, in our opinion, would be able to play matches again within a week, or at least very soon."
"They estimate the period he will be unable to play to be much longer than we do," Stewart continued. "From what I understood, six weeks. So we think it is considerably shorter."
Stewart expressed frustration over how the negotiations ended, noting that the player had been left in uncertainty. "Couhaib is really upset about it. Very unfortunate. He was left in uncertainty for 48 hours," Stewart said. "Everything was also postponed by a day, and he has barely been able to do anything. We are now getting a disillusioned player back. That is not nice."
"During the four to six weeks in which they believe he is unavailable, the whole deal suddenly falls apart," Stewart added. "This concerns a period of more than 200 weeks during which he would be under contract. After all, it was a four-year contract."
Europa League exit and team reaction
The failed transfer comes after McInnes said on Thursday night that his team "lacked intelligence" and were not good enough to qualify for the Europa League. McInnes bemoaned the manner of Jagiellonia's equaliser, which came from a simple breakaway as the Polish team levelled the match to win 3-2 on aggregate.
Rangers midfielder Dan Neil admitted the squad performed with too much naivety, pointing to counter-attacks as the team's main vulnerability. Neil stated that a fallibility to counter-attacks has been kryptonite to the team over their last four matches.
"Yeah, really tough," Neil said of the Europa League exit. "We had a full belief going into the game that we'd get the result we wanted. We were really all out, just trying to get the crowd behind us and build momentum. I felt like we did that in the first half, but we just didn't manage to keep it going in the second half and allowed them back into the game. Then another bad counter-attack goal, which has been our kryptonite over the last four games, cost us again."
Upcoming fixtures and St Mirren reaction
Rangers now face a must-win League Cup tie against St Mirren on Saturday before hosting Czech side Jablonec at Ibrox on Thursday in the first leg of their Conference League play-off round tie.
Asked how Rangers can turn their form around after a nightmare start to the season, Neil backed his teammates to respond. "It's only natural that you take a bit of a confidence hit after the start we've had, but we've got a good group of lads in there," Neil said. "It's not unfixable. It's something that we have to take ownership of and we have to watch it back and find a way to stop that from happening."
Meanwhile, St Mirren manager Craig McLeish said he is not paying attention to Rangers' current troubles ahead of the holders' trip to Govan. "There's no good time to play Rangers or Celtic away from home," McLeish said. "People will talk or there'll be noise about what they're doing at the moment, but they're still a very good team, a very good outfit, well-coached, well-drilled and have some real top quality players that can hurt you any moment."
"You can't go into it thinking that they're vulnerable or whatever," McLeish added. "There's never a time where you go and they are there for the taking. You have to prepare for them as best you can and not take your eye off the ball."
