Rangers suffer transfer frustration after 'spying mission' on summer target as new plan hatched

Rangers have reportedly been forced to draw up a new scouting plan for one of their summer targets after their latest mission was kiboshed.

The Light Blues have been busy in the summer market and have been in Spain for warm weather training under new manager Derek McInnes. Blackburn Rovers’ Ryan Alebiosu is reportedly on their radar after impressing in the English Championship and Premier League side Brentford’s interest has been peaked.

Alebiosu, a right-back, was loaned to Kilmarnock from Arsenal in 2022 while McInnes was Kilmarnock boss and shone for him at Rugby Park. A Rangers trip to view him though was ended due to a bug picked up by the player, according to Alan Nixon, and now plans to get a new scouting mission done on the Blackburn star are being hatched.

Why could Rangers not scout Ryan Alebiosu?

Nixon states via Patreon: “Brentford and Rangers were left disappointed on a spying mission to look at Blackburn Rovers right back Ryan Alebiosu in a pre season game. The pair sent top spies to watch the raiding defender only to find out he was missing with a bug. Both are in the market for the attacking full back if the price is right and their presence will be expected again in the next few weeks.”

Speaking on the Spanish training camp and how Rangers are shaping up for the season, McInnes told club media: “It has been very tough for the players; since they came back three weeks ago, they have been first class in terms of their effort. This week is there to serve its purpose again and to try and get that connection with each other, get closer to each other, but also it reinforced the fitness levels, and I think what we have had this week, is has been a brilliant effort.

“In the first game we had that physicality; we worked the players really hard for a couple of days before that. Against Johor, we tried to be a bit fresher, because we knew they are a team who are 22 games into their season, they are unbeaten domestically since 2021, and we knew there would be a confidence about them.

How did Rangers get on in their most recent pre season friendly match?

“I thought we set about the task brilliantly and I thought we were the better team in the first half. We were just bemoaning lack of quality, lack of finesse and lack of real conviction in the final bit, and then we got caught cold at the start of the second-half.

“The first goal is very much a case of that, and the second goal we have a slip and it leads to a second goal, so we had it all to do, and I am delighted with the players' response. No one accepted losing the game, and we just kept going to get that winning goal and two brilliant goals from Tochi Chukwuani, and I think it was the least we deserved.”