🚨💰 RANGERS DECLARE WAR ON CELTIC AS OLD FIRM RIVALS GO HEAD-TO-HEAD FOR £17M FROSINONE STAR 💰🚨
The Glasgow transfer war has well and truly ignited, with Rangers and Celtic now locked in a fierce, escalating battle to land one of Serie B’s standout performers before the summer window slams shut, and neither Old Firm club shows the slightest willingness to blink first. What began as little more than a lingering January interest from Celtic has, over the course of a few frantic days, exploded into a full-blown bidding war that has dragged Frosinone’s prized Algerian international winger Fares Ghedjemis into the centre of Scottish football’s most heated summer storyline, with both Glasgow giants now scrambling to outmanoeuvre one another before their rivals can complete the deal.
The story stretches back to the turn of the year, when Celtic first identified Ghedjemis as a genuine option to strengthen their attacking options, tabling a significant offer for the then-Frosinone forward during the January transfer window. At that stage, the Algerian winger was already establishing himself as one of the most exciting attacking talents outside Italy’s top flight, and Celtic moved to try and get ahead of the chasing pack. According to Frosinone director Piero Doronzo, speaking to Radio Sportiva, there was a genuine possibility the move could have gone through at that point, with club president Maurizio Stirpe reportedly consulting directly with the player over Celtic’s proposal rather than simply blocking it outright, a detail that speaks to just how close the deal came to being sanctioned back in January. Ultimately, though, Ghedjemis opted to stay and fight for promotion with Frosinone rather than making the move to Glasgow at that stage, a decision that would prove richly rewarding for both player and club as the season unfolded.
That gamble paid off spectacularly. Ghedjemis went on to enjoy an outstanding second half of the campaign, finishing the Serie B season with 15 goals and three assists in 37 appearances as Frosinone secured promotion back to Serie A, a return that instantly transformed his stock in the eyes of clubs across Europe. His form was strong enough to earn him a place in Algeria’s World Cup squad, where he made an appearance as a substitute during a dramatic 3-3 draw with Austria, further raising his profile on the international stage and confirming what many had already suspected: that the Frosinone academy graduate had outgrown the second tier of Italian football entirely. With his contract running until the summer of 2028, Frosinone find themselves in an unusually strong negotiating position, and having watched his value climb so sharply over the course of just seven months, the Italian club have made abundantly clear that they have no intention of letting him leave on the cheap.
That much has been reflected in the asking price Frosinone have set, with reports in Italy indicating the club are demanding a fee in the region of €15 million to €20 million, translating to roughly £17 million at current exchange rates, a figure that would represent a genuinely eye-watering outlay for either Rangers or Celtic and, if met, would comfortably shatter Rangers’ transfer record. Doronzo’s comments underline just how firmly Frosinone believe they hold the upper hand in these negotiations, and having already turned down what would once have been considered a substantial offer from Celtic back in January, the newly promoted Serie A side appear entirely comfortable holding out for a fee that reflects Ghedjemis’s dramatically improved market standing.
Celtic were the first of the two Glasgow clubs to publicly confirm their renewed interest this summer, with manager Martin O’Neill speaking candidly about the club’s admiration for the player and their determination to get a deal over the line. O’Neill, whose side lifted the Scottish Premiership title last season and subsequently secured Champions League qualification, confirmed that Celtic held what he described as a very strong interest in Ghedjemis, while stopping short of confirming any awareness of Rangers’ own movements in the race. He suggested the club were making genuinely good progress in their pursuit, even while acknowledging uncertainty over exactly how far Celtic might need to go to get a deal done. Those comments, given while Celtic’s opening £6 million offer was still on the table, set the tone for what has since become an increasingly public tussle between the two rivals.
Rangers’ response was anything but timid. According to Sky Sports Scotland, Derek McInnes’s side moved quickly to lodge an £8 million bid for Ghedjemis, a figure that comfortably surpassed Celtic’s earlier proposal and represented a clear statement of intent from Ibrox that they had no intention of allowing their rivals a free run at one of the division’s most coveted attacking targets. That improved offer, however, met the same fate as Celtic’s opening approach, with Frosinone rejecting Rangers’ bid just as firmly, reiterating their determination to hold out for a fee much closer to their stated valuation. Reports from Italian outlet AlessioPorcu.it have since suggested the gap between the two parties remains substantial, claiming Rangers’ offer amounted to roughly €9 million once converted, still far short of the €15 million to €20 million being demanded, while Celtic’s revised approach was said to have fallen in the region of €7 million.
The scale of Rangers’ ambition in this pursuit should not be understated given the financial context surrounding the club’s summer business to date. Sources close to the situation note that Rangers have made eight signings so far this window at a combined outlay of little over £10 million, meaning an £8 million single bid for Ghedjemis alone represents a striking shift in approach and a clear signal from chairman Andrew Cavanagh’s regime that Derek McInnes will be given genuine backing to reshape his squad. That willingness to speculate significant funds on one individual target, even after such a busy and varied summer of incoming transfers, points to just how highly Ghedjemis is rated internally at Ibrox, and how determined the club’s hierarchy are to avoid missing out on a player they clearly view as a potential difference-maker for the season ahead.
Celtic, for their part, have hardly been standing still either, having already committed significant resources to strengthening their own forward line this summer. The Premiership champions have spent £11 million on striker Kasper Hogh and a further £6 million on forward Camilo Duran, additions that underline just how seriously Martin O’Neill’s side are taking their own attacking rebuild even before factoring in the Ghedjemis pursuit. That existing outlay makes Celtic’s willingness to also chase an £15-20 million winger all the more notable, and speaks to a club unwilling to cede any ground to their Glasgow rivals during what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive Old Firm transfer windows in recent memory.
Whether either club ultimately proves willing to meet Frosinone’s asking price remains the single biggest unresolved question hanging over this saga. A fee approaching £17 million would represent uncharted territory for both Rangers and Celtic, and with less than a month remaining before the transfer window closes, both sides will need to decide relatively quickly whether they are prepared to break new financial ground or instead allow the trail to go cold and turn their focus elsewhere. Frosinone, buoyed by their own promotion and Ghedjemis’s rapidly rising stock, appear entirely unbothered by the prospect of the saga dragging on, content in the knowledge that his contract situation gives them little incentive to lower their demands under pressure from Scottish interest.
Crucially, Rangers are not staking their entire summer attacking rebuild on the outcome of the Ghedjemis pursuit alone. While the Ibrox club continue to monitor the Frosinone winger closely, Derek McInnes has simultaneously pushed through a separate deal that appears far closer to being finalised. According to respected transfer reporter Florian Plettenberg, Rangers have reached a full agreement with Bundesliga 2 side Hannover 96 to sign Japanese winger Daisuke Yokota, with the 26-year-old expected to complete a move worth in the region of £3 million, a figure reported elsewhere as a guaranteed fee of between €3 million and €3.5 million plus performance-related add-ons and a sell-on clause. Fabrizio Romano has since corroborated the story, describing the agreement as a verbal one worth a €3.3 million fixed fee with a further €700,000 in potential add-ons, details that align closely with Plettenberg’s original reporting and lend the story considerable credibility given the standing of both journalists within the football transfer landscape.
Yokota’s path to Ibrox has been anything but conventional, reflecting a footballing journey that has taken him across several countries before arriving in Scotland. Originally products of Kawasaki Frontale’s youth setup in Japan before moving to Europe as a teenager, Yokota has previously turned out for clubs in Germany, Latvia and Poland before eventually joining Belgian side Gent, who then sent him out on successive loan spells, first to 1. FC Kaiserslautern and more recently to Hannover 96, where he enjoyed arguably the finest form of his career to date. During his loan spell in Lower Saxony, Yokota contributed nine goal involvements in 30 appearances in the second tier of German football, form that appears to have persuaded Rangers to move decisively to secure his signature on a permanent basis rather than risk losing him to other suitors during the closing weeks of the window.
What has stood out most about Yokota’s game during his time in Germany, beyond his end product, has been his ability to beat defenders in one-on-one situations, a trait that could prove particularly valuable for a Rangers side searching for fresh attacking spark following an underwhelming start to the new Premiership campaign. Statistical data from his time at Hannover shows he completed 2.8 dribbles per 90 minutes last season, a figure that comfortably outstrips the numbers previously posted by Mikey Moore, the highly-rated attacker who spent time on loan at Ibrox from Tottenham Hotspur before returning to parent club duties and later moving on to 1.FC Köln. Given how influential Moore’s ability to carry the ball and beat opponents proved during his own loan spell in Govan, Rangers fans will be hopeful that Yokota can provide a similar attacking outlet, particularly against sides who set up defensively in Scotland’s top flight.
The timing of Rangers’ move for Yokota appears far from coincidental, arriving just days after McInnes’s side were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw away at newly promoted Dundee United in their opening Premiership fixture of the season. Despite dominating large spells of possession and territory during that match, Rangers struggled to consistently create clear-cut chances, a problem that has clearly not gone unnoticed within the Ibrox recruitment department. The swift movement to finalise a deal for Yokota in the days immediately following that result suggests McInnes and his staff wasted little time identifying attacking width and one-on-one quality as urgent priorities requiring reinforcement before the transfer deadline arrives, rather than waiting to see how the situation with Ghedjemis played out before acting.
Should the Yokota deal proceed to its expected conclusion, it would mark the ninth incoming signing of what has already been an extraordinarily busy summer of recruitment at Ibrox under Derek McInnes. The Scot has already brought in a striking array of new faces since taking charge, including forward Lawrence Shankland, midfielders Dan Neil and Cammy Devlin, defenders Ross McCrorie and Ben Godfrey, goalkeeper Ivor Pandur, South African international Olwethu Makhanya, and Vanja Dragojević, a group of additions that together paint a picture of a manager attempting to rebuild his squad across almost every area of the pitch simultaneously. That Rangers are still actively pursuing further attacking reinforcements, even after such a wide-ranging summer of incoming transfers, only reinforces just how significant a rebuild McInnes and the Ibrox hierarchy consider necessary if the club are to seriously challenge for major honours during the season ahead.
It also underscores an important tactical reality facing McInnes as the transfer window enters its final stretch: even with Yokota’s arrival expected imminently, reports suggest Rangers remain genuinely interested in adding Ghedjemis on top of the Japanese winger, rather than viewing the two pursuits as mutually exclusive alternatives. That would represent a significant financial commitment to strengthening one specific area of the pitch, but it also speaks to McInnes’s clear determination to build genuine strength in depth across his wide areas, an approach that suggests the Rangers boss wants multiple attacking outlets and tactical options at his disposal rather than relying too heavily on any single individual to provide creativity and end product from wide positions.
For Celtic, the prospect of potentially missing out on Ghedjemis despite their early positioning in the race would represent a notable blow, particularly given O’Neill’s public confidence just days earlier about the progress being made in talks. Yet Celtic’s own advantages in this particular battle should not be dismissed lightly. Having lifted the Scottish Premiership title last season and secured Champions League football for the campaign ahead, Celtic can offer a level of continental exposure and prize money potential that Rangers, currently competing in the Europa League qualifying rounds, simply cannot match at this moment in time. For a player of Ghedjemis’s evident ambition, freshly capped at senior international level and coming off a season that has transformed his market value, the lure of regular Champions League football may yet prove decisive if the financial gap between the two Glasgow clubs’ offers can eventually be bridged.
As it stands, though, neither side appears anywhere close to meeting Frosinone’s demands, leaving this particular saga firmly unresolved with the transfer deadline now looming on the horizon. Both Rangers and Celtic will be acutely aware that hesitation could prove costly, not only in terms of potentially losing out to their fiercest rivals, but also in risking Ghedjemis attracting fresh interest from clubs elsewhere in Europe who may be willing to meet Frosinone’s valuation more readily than either Scottish side has shown themselves capable of doing so far. Whatever the eventual outcome, the coming weeks promise to deliver one of the more compelling subplots of an already eventful Old Firm transfer window, with Rangers simultaneously closing in on a separate attacking addition in Daisuke Yokota that could yet prove just as significant to Derek McInnes’s plans as any marquee arrival from Italy.
There is also an interesting subplot buried within Frosinone’s own recent transfer history that helps explain why the Italian club feel so comfortable holding firm on their valuation of Ghedjemis. Having secured promotion back to Serie A, the newly promoted side are acutely aware of the financial realities facing clubs at that level of Italian football, where staying competitive against wealthier established top-flight opposition often depends heavily on the club’s ability to generate significant transfer income from academy graduates and breakout performers. Ghedjemis, who has been on Frosinone’s books since a January 2024 move and represents one of the clearest success stories of their recruitment strategy in recent seasons, is precisely the kind of asset the club will be reluctant to release cheaply, regardless of the interest shown by two of Scottish football’s biggest and most historic institutions. President Stirpe’s willingness to let the player himself have a say in his own future back in January, rather than blocking any suggestion of a departure outright, points to a club that understands the value of goodwill in these situations, but that same approach also means Frosinone are unlikely to feel pressured into accepting anything below their valuation simply because two Glasgow clubs are competing publicly for his signature.
The broader picture emerging from Ibrox this summer is one of a club moving with real purpose and financial confidence under Andrew Cavanagh’s ownership, willing to back Derek McInnes not just with squad depth but with the kind of statement bids that signal genuine ambition rather than mere makeweight interest. Whether that ambition ultimately translates into a club-record deal for Ghedjemis remains to be seen, but the willingness to engage in a bidding war of this scale with Celtic, even after such heavy summer spending elsewhere, tells its own story about how seriously the current Rangers hierarchy are treating the challenge of closing the gap on their Premiership champion rivals. For a fanbase that has grown accustomed to watching top domestic targets slip away to Celtic in recent windows, the sight of Rangers matching and even exceeding their rivals’ opening offer for one of Serie B’s standout performers will be seen as a welcome and long overdue show of intent, regardless of how the Ghedjemis saga ultimately resolves itself in the weeks ahead.
Attention will also inevitably turn to how quickly Rangers can integrate any new arrivals given the demands of an already congested early-season fixture list, with Europa League qualifying commitments adding further urgency to McInnes’s efforts to strengthen his squad depth. A winger of Yokota’s dribbling ability and directness could offer an immediate tactical solution to the profligacy in front of goal that characterised the frustrating opening-day stalemate with Dundee United, while the potential addition of Ghedjemis further down the line would give Rangers a genuine embarrassment of riches in wide areas, assuming a fee can eventually be agreed with Frosinone. For now, though, the Yokota deal represents the more immediate and tangible piece of business, with his medical and formal unveiling expected to dominate headlines at Ibrox in the coming days, even as the far more expensive and complicated Ghedjemis saga continues to simmer in the background of an already fascinating summer on both sides of Glasgow’s great football divide.
