Diomande Set to Depart Ibrox — And He Might Not Be the Last as Rangers’ Midfield Clear-Out Gathers Pac
Rangers look poised to wave goodbye to Mohamed Diomande before the transfer window shuts, and the early signs suggest his exit could be the trigger for a wider clear-out in Govan rather than an isolated departure. The Ivorian midfielder, brought to Ibrox for roughly £4.3 million back in 2024, is understood to be closing in on a switch to Turkish Süper Lig outfit Çorum FK, drawing the curtain on a two-year stint in Scottish football.
His impending move is not especially surprising once you consider how much business Rangers have already done in the centre of the park this summer. Derek McInnes has brought in Dan Neil, Cammy Devlin and Vanja Dragojevic to bolster his midfield options, and with those additions in place the department has started to look distinctly overcrowded. Trimming a name as established as Diomande from the group therefore looks less like a snap decision and more like a natural piece of squad management, freeing up both space and wages for a Rangers side still shaping itself under its head coach.
Diomande is far from the only midfielder whose Ibrox future is under scrutiny. Nicolas Raskin’s situation continues to generate plenty of speculation, and there is a growing feeling among those close to the club that his sale is now a matter of “when” rather than “if”. Owner Andrew Cavenagh is reported to be open to cashing in on the Belgian international, whose value has risen sharply on the back of a strong World Cup campaign with Belgium. The stumbling block, for now, appears to be finding a buyer prepared to meet the price Rangers are holding out for — plenty of admirers have been mentioned across Europe, but as things stand no club has come forward with an offer the Ibrox hierarchy consider good enough to do business.
That combination — a player whose stock has clearly risen, and a club reluctant to sell below what it now considers his true value — has become a familiar dynamic in Scottish football’s dealings with clubs elsewhere on the continent, and it looks set to define the Raskin saga for as long as it continues to run.
Further down the pecking order, a couple of squad players appear to have essentially fallen off the radar altogether. Ross McCausland and Clinton Nsiala have slipped so far out of Derek McInnes’ plans that some supporters could be forgiven for having forgotten they are still on the club’s books at all. Neither the Northern Ireland winger nor the French defender has featured with any regularity, and both look to be in need of a change of scenery if they are to get their careers back on track. Their situation is understood to be similar to that of John Souttar, who has also fallen out of favour with the current manager — with all three now bracketed together as squad members McInnes appears relaxed about losing.
Jose Cifuentes is another name mentioned in connection with a potential Ibrox exit, largely for financial rather than footballing reasons. Once viewed as a significant addition to the squad, the Ecuadorian is understood to be among the higher earners the club’s hierarchy would be happy to see off the wage bill, given how peripheral he has become under the current setup.
## Even some of the winter arrivals face uncertain futures
It isn’t just older signings whose Ibrox futures look shaky — some of the recruits brought in during the winter window under former head coach Danny Rohl have also struggled to make the impact hoped for, and their long-term place in the squad may now be in question as McInnes continues to reshape things his own way.
Andreas Skov Olsen’s loan spell didn’t work out as planned, and he has already returned to parent club Wolfsburg. Tuur Rommens has shown flashes of what he can offer, but recurring fitness problems have limited his impact and started to test the patience of supporters who were excited by his arrival. Ryan Naderi, meanwhile, has yet to deliver the kind of impact many expected following his move from Hansa Rostock, and question marks remain over whether he will force his way into regular contention.
Tochi Chukwuani’s situation looks similarly precarious. The Denmark Under-21 international, who arrived from Sturm Graz, was left out of the squad completely for Rangers’ recent loss to Hibernian and only made the bench against Dundee United. Even with the extra room that departures like Diomande’s and Raskin’s would create in midfield, there’s no guarantee the 23-year-old will see regular minutes under McInnes this season — a situation that could eventually push him towards the exit as well.
Put together, all of this points to a Rangers squad undergoing genuine transformation, not just through the incoming transfers that have understandably dominated headlines this summer, but through a steady stream of departures as McInnes works to trim numbers and clear out players who no longer fit his vision for the team. From an established Belgium international in Raskin, down to fringe players who have barely had a look-in this season, the list of potential exits is a lengthy one. With deadline day still to come, supporters at Ibrox may well have a few more departures to get used to before the transfer window finally closes for business.
