Mohamed Diomande has left Rangers, with the midfielder completing a move to newly promoted Turkish Süper Lig side Çorum FK. The transfer, reported to be worth in the region of €5.5 million (roughly £4.5-4.8 million depending on the source), brings an end to a two-and-a-half-year spell at Ibrox and gives Derek McInnes fresh funds to work with as the summer window enters its final weeks.
Interest from Çorum first emerged on Sunday 9 August, the same day Rangers lost 2-1 at home to Hibernian, with Turkish journalist Ertan Süzgün reporting that the Süper Lig club had opened talks with Ibrox over a move for the 24-year-old. Fellow Turkish reporter Yağız Sabuncuoğlu subsequently detailed an official offer in the region of €5.6 million (around £4.8 million), and within days Diomande had travelled to Istanbul to undergo a medical and finalise personal terms.
Sky Sports reported the two clubs were in “advanced talks” over the fee shortly after the interest first broke, with Turkish outlet Ajansspor later confirming the transfer had been completed, and Transfer Merkezi reporting the final fee at €5.5 million. Diomande has signed a four-year contract with his new club.
Speaking to the press after the Hibernian defeat, McInnes appeared to allude to the growing interest from Turkey without directly confirming it, suggesting the club was aware talks were progressing even before the move became public.
The sale reflects a genuine surplus of central midfield options at Ibrox this summer rather than any indication Diomande had fallen out of favour on the pitch. He started Rangers’ first two league matches of the season and was involved in the club’s Europa League qualifying win in Poland against Jagiellonia Białystok the previous week, before being replaced at half-time against Hibernian.
Rangers have brought in several central midfielders already this summer, including Cammy Devlin from Hearts and Dan Neil following his release from Sunderland, while question marks remain over the longer-term future of Nicolas Raskin, who has attracted transfer interest of his own. With that level of competition for places, and with Diomande still having two years left on a contract due to run until the summer of 2028, Rangers appear to have judged this the right moment to sell — both because the fee on offer represented reasonable value for a player who has not always played to his highest level since his January 2024 arrival, and because the alternative was risking a decline in his resale value over time, with the possibility of eventually losing him for nothing once his contract entered its final year.
Diomande originally joined Rangers on loan from Danish club FC Nordsjaelland in January 2024, with that move converted into a permanent transfer worth around €5 million that summer.
His departure does open up a vacancy in McInnes’s midfield engine room, with suggestions that Vanja Dragojević — signed this summer from Partizan Belgrade but yet to feature prominently in a central role — could be in line for more regular minutes there. It also fits into the club’s broader summer strategy: chairman Andrew Cavenagh has said Rangers expect to make three to five further signings before the window closes on 3 September, and with Diomande’s sale banked, and PSV winger Couhaib Driouech’s roughly €8 million arrival also being finalised, the funds generated from outgoing sales are expected to help finance at least some of that continued recruitment. Rangers have also been exploring reinforcements at both full-back positions, including a loan move for Jayden Meghoma and interest in Aston Villa’s Kosta Nedeljković, following the serious ACL injury sustained by striker Youssef Chermiti against Hibernian
For Çorum FK, who won promotion from the Turkish second tier last season, the signing represents a statement of intent as they prepare for their first campaign back in the Süper Lig, with the club framing Diomande as a player capable of adding real quality to their midfield.
For Rangers, the sale is one of several simultaneous pieces of transfer business unfolding at Ibrox in the same window as a difficult start to the season on the pitch — McInnes remains winless after three competitive matches — underlining a summer defined as much by continued squad turnover as by results.
