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5 generational Dutch talents Rangers missed out on signing
Rangers have always had a touch of the Dutch about them.
The club’s long-held association with the Oranje was only intensified by the influx of high-profile Netherlands stars who joined during the reign of Dick Advocaat.
To this day, several of that number continue to be heralded at Rangers and are rarely slow to nail their colours to the Ibrox mast.
Arthur Numan, Fernando Ricksen, Ronald de Boer and Michael Mols are some of the Dutch stars who hold a close affinity to Rangers, with former manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst also amongst them.
So you’ll forgive Rangers fans for feeling that when the Barcelona legend took the reins at Ibrox back in late 2021 that we’d see a mini-Dutch revolution a-la Dick Advocaat.
Alas, Rangers never signed a Dutch player under the former Netherlands captain but in the time since it’s become clear that this was not for the want of trying.
Here are the five Dutch stars of recent seasons who might’ve wound up at Rangers had things gone a little differently.
How many of these guys will we see at Euro 2024 with the Netherlands?
Dutch midfielder that turned Gerrard towards exit
When Rangers were linked to Joey Veerman in the summer of 2021, Steven Gerrard was still the Ibrox club’s manager.
The Liverpool legend had just lifted 55 and was eager to build on the club’s first title triumph in a decade.
But as Rangers emerged in the post-Covid haze, former chairman Douglas Park tightened the purse strings and a £6m move for the then Heerenveen midfielder never materialised.
And we’ve since lived to regret it on and off the mark.
Gerrard left for Aston Villa amid frustration over a lack of ambitious investment and Joey Veerman moved to PSV for around £5m in the following January window.
Having scored to knock Rangers out of Champions League qualifying last summer, the midfielder is the subject of money-spinning £21.5m links to the Premier League.
Rafael van der Vaart has also just branded Veerman the ‘best passer in Europe’.
No wonder Gerrard left.
Eredivisie captain with shades of ex-Celtic star
Danilho Doekhi is another ‘one that got away’ for Rangers after strong links to the centre-back heading into Van Bronckhorst’s first window in January 2022.
It was a transfer target which appeared to tick all the boxes.
The captain at Eredivisie side Vitesse Arnhem, Doekhi was available on a cut-price deal with his contract ticking down and the Dutch connection making a transfer look sensible.
Also in his early 20s, a move for Virgil van Dijk-esque Danilho Doekhi was supposed to be a transfer in line with the club’s much-maligned player trading model.
But amid interest from the likes of Napoli, then Dutch U21 defender Danilho Doekhi signed for Union Berlin in Germany and the rest is history.
Enjoying his first foray into the Champions League this season, Doekhi has been linked to the Premier League and was valued at £13m at the turn of the year.
Whilst Rangers look to have been trumped by the lure of the German big leagues, it doesn’t mean this one doesn’t hurt.
PSG talent who scored 22 goals after Rangers links
When Rangers were linked to Xavi Simons, you could almost hear the collective splutter of tea from the mouths of Scottish football fans up and down the country.
A product of Barcelona’s famed La Masia youth academy, Simons made headlines when he signed a money-spinning first professional deal at PSG under the management of superagent Mino Raiola.
But with the young Dutch talent’s contract ticking down in France, Rangers were genuinely named as one of the player’s leading suitors.
One thing you will notice is that with Giovanni van Bronckhorst at the helm, Rangers really were being ambitious with their transfer targets.
But whilst Rangers’ interest simmered, Xavi Simons would move to PSV where he actually played the Gers as Gio overcame PSV Eindhoven in Champions League qualification.
Scoring a quite remarkable 22 goals in all competitions last season, Simons wound up the Eredivisie’s joint-top scorer (19) and was eventually re-signed by PSG.
Now out on loan at RB Leipzig for the season, as a result of the links Rangers fans will probably be now forever exposed to mildly-associated stories about the goalscoring playmaker.
AC Milan star who was warned off Rangers move
Now this one really does sting.
Tijjani Reijnders is probably a name not too many Rangers fans would’ve known from his time at AZ.
The club’s transfer dealings are also so tight-lipped that no-one in Scotland picked up on the fact Rangers were sniffing around the midfielder during his time in Holland.
It was another former Rangers Dutchman, this time expensive flop Bert Konterman, who revealed the Ibrox side wanted to sign the now Netherlands international.
But the ex-Gers star actually warned Tijjani Reijnders and the player’s father off a move to Glasgow, instead suggesting the player spend one more season in the Dutch top flight and earn a bigger move.
AC Milan came calling a year later to the tune of £17m and Reijnders recently showed the Scotland national team exactly why Rangers wanted to sign him.
Cheers for that, Bert.
Champions League finalist who Gio almost convinced
There have been substantial murmurs around Rangers interest in Chelsea left-back Ian Maatsen for a while.
But because they’ve been unsubstantiated, they are not reports which have been carried by the press and as a result, any suggestion the 22-year-old could’ve joined Rangers has been laughed out.
Until now.
Speaking as Borussia Dortmund reached a third Champions League Final, Giovanni van Bronckhorst claimed that he tried to bring Maatsen to Rangers.
We presume this is before the left-back moved to Burnley and helped them earn promotion last season.
Rangers moved for Ridvan Yilmaz instead – the Turkish international still struggling to get a run of games amid injury – whilst Maatsen has only kicked on.
The left-back made his Chelsea breakthrough in the first half of the season and has now just helped Borussia Dortmund to a Champions League Final at Wembley.
It begs the question, were we too ambitious or unlucky with regards our targets under Van Bronckhorst?
How Rangers might’ve lined up with 5 Dutch stars
Ok, this is highly hypothetical.
Not least because if we’d signed any of these players it might’ve meant other transfers never happened.
Nonetheless, in the immortal words of Brendan Rodgers, let’s ’have a bit of fun’.
Here’s how we might’ve wound up lining up had Rangers’ Dutch revolution 2.0 actually happened:
GK – Jack Butland
DR – James Tavernier
DC – Connor Goldson
DC – Danilho Doekhi
DL – Ian Maatsen
CDM – Joey Veerman
CM – Mohamed Diomande
CM – Tijjani Reijnders
RW – Abdallah Sima
ST – Danilo
LW – Xavi Simons
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