Rangers appear to be closing in on the signing of Couhaib Driouech, with a medical for the winger now believed to be scheduled at Ibrox. The Light Blues have had an offer in the region of £7 million accepted by PSV Eindhoven, and the player is understood to be preparing to travel to Scotland to finalise his move.
The transfer would mark another addition to a Rangers squad that has already been busy strengthening out wide this summer, following the arrival of Daisuke Yokota. Despite that signing, Derek McInnes is understood to still have room in his squad for a further attacking option on the flanks, and Driouech is seen as fitting exactly the profile the manager has been searching for — a player capable of adding creativity and unpredictability in wide areas, something his side have visibly lacked in the early weeks of the season.
With the financial terms of the deal already agreed between the two clubs, what remains is largely a matter of process: the player travelling to Glasgow, undergoing a medical examination, and signing off on personal terms and a contract. On the surface, it looks close to being a formality. But a closer look at PSV’s recent transfer history suggests Rangers supporters may be forgiven for not celebrating just yet.
According to reporting from the Dutch outlet De Telegraaf, published on Monday, the medical is expected to take place in Glasgow on Tuesday. The same report claims that Rangers have won the race for Driouech’s signature ahead of competition from Celta Vigo, the Spanish side who had also been credited with interest in the player. Dutch sources are suggesting that Rangers’ offer was significant enough to see off that rival interest fairly comprehensively, rather than this being a close-run contest between the two suitors.
That element of the story — Rangers beating a La Liga club to a target — will likely be viewed as a mark of ambition by supporters, particularly given the club’s well-documented efforts this summer to reshape and strengthen the playing squad under its new ownership and coaching setup. Being able to outmuscle a Spanish top-flight side in a straight fight for a player’s signature is not something Rangers have always been able to claim in recent transfer windows, and it will be seen in some quarters as a signal of intent.
However, the same report that confirms the medical also raises a note of caution, highlighting that PSV have been involved in a string of transfers this year that appeared close to completion before collapsing entirely. That pattern forms the crux of the uncertainty now hanging over the Driouech deal, despite how advanced things otherwise appear.
Three separate cases are cited as evidence of PSV’s troubled recent history in the transfer market. The first involves striker Ricardo Pepi, whose proposed move to Premier League side Fulham fell apart despite reportedly being close to done. The sticking point in that instance was a disagreement over injury protection: Fulham wanted the ability to withdraw from the transfer, or renegotiate its terms, in the event that Pepi suffered an injury before the move was finalised. PSV, for their part, were not willing to grant that kind of conditional exit clause, and the impasse ultimately proved fatal to the deal.
The second example concerns defender Armando Obispo, who had been expected to join French Ligue 1 side RC Lens. That move reportedly broke down over personal terms — in other words, the specifics of the contract being offered to the player himself, rather than any disagreement between the two clubs over transfer fee or structure. Personal terms disputes are a common cause of collapsed transfers throughout football, often centring on wages, bonuses, contract length, or release clauses, and in Obispo’s case it appears to have been enough to derail what had seemed to be a done deal.
The third cited case involves Adamo Nagalo, whose proposed transfer to Turkish club FK Çorum also collapsed, again reportedly due to a breakdown in discussions over personal terms between the player and his prospective new employers.
Taken together, these three incidents paint a picture of a club — PSV — that has, for whatever reason, found it difficult recently to see transfers through to completion even after reaching what looked like an advanced stage. For a Rangers fanbase that has become understandably wary after years of transfer sagas, near-misses, and last-gasp disappointments in the market, the timing of this reporting is likely to prompt some anxiety, even as the broader signs around the Driouech deal remain positive.
Despite raising the spectre of PSV’s recent collapsed deals, the reporting also lays out clear reasons why the Driouech transfer is unlikely to suffer the same fate. Crucially, the circumstances that scuppered each of the three previous deals do not appear to apply in this case.
On the financial side, the fee being offered for Driouech is described as substantial enough to be highly attractive to PSV, giving the Dutch club a strong incentive to see the deal through rather than let it collapse. Clubs are generally far less inclined to walk away from transfers when the financial terms on the table are especially favourable, and early indications are that this is exactly the situation PSV find themselves in with Rangers’ bid.
More specifically, none of the individual sticking points that derailed the Pepi, Obispo, and Nagalo moves appear to be present in the Driouech situation. The Pepi deal collapsed over the injury-related conditional clause sought by Fulham — a specific, structural issue in how that transfer was to be legally and financially arranged, rather than anything to do with wages or personal preference. There is no indication that any similar clause or condition is under discussion in Rangers’ negotiations for Driouech, meaning that particular obstacle simply doesn’t apply here.
The Obispo and Nagalo transfers, meanwhile, both broke down over personal terms — disagreements between the player and the buying club over the specifics of the contract on offer. In Driouech’s case, Rangers are reported to have already agreed a four-year contract with the player, suggesting that this stage of the negotiation — often the most delicate part of any transfer, and the one most prone to last-minute disagreement — has already been successfully navigated. If personal terms have genuinely been settled in advance, that removes the single biggest variable that caused two of PSV’s three recent deals to unravel.
In short, while PSV’s transfer history this year gives some objective reason for caution, the specific mechanics of this deal — a strong fee, and personal terms already believed to be agreed — mean the obstacles that sank those previous moves don’t seem to be in play. Barring the medical throwing up any unexpected issues, there appears to be little standing between Driouech and becoming a Rangers player.
While the report itself focuses primarily on the mechanics of the deal, it’s worth considering why Rangers have pursued Driouech so keenly and why McInnes reportedly sees him as such an important target. The suggestion that Rangers are “crying out” for a creative spark out wide points to a specific tactical need within the current squad — a gap that recruitment has been directed at closing even as the club has already brought in Yokota for similar areas of the pitch.
Wide, creative players who can beat a man, deliver quality crosses, or cut inside to create and finish chances are often among the most sought-after and competitively contested profiles in the modern transfer market, which makes the reported willingness to spend around £7 million, and to outbid a La Liga club in the process, a clear marker of how highly Rangers’ recruitment team rate him. For a club that has been characterised, in the words of its own chairman in separate recent comments, as trying to move away from a culture of accepting second-best, bringing in a wanted, competitively-chased talent like Driouech would fit that broader ambition.
This pursuit of Driouech doesn’t exist in isolation. It comes amid what has already been an active summer of squad rebuilding at Ibrox, with multiple new arrivals added before this prospective deal, and further transfer business expected before the window closes. Reports elsewhere have suggested the club’s hierarchy anticipates several more incoming signings before the deadline, alongside the departure of some players no longer part of the club’s plans.
Against that backdrop, the Driouech deal represents one thread in a wider tapestry of squad reshaping happening simultaneously at Ibrox this summer. The scale of that activity — nine new faces added even before a move for Driouech is finalised — reflects an organisation trying to move quickly and decisively in the market, even as on-field results in the early weeks of the season have not yet caught up with the scale of the investment and turnover in personnel.
For now, all eyes will be on whether Driouech successfully completes his medical in Glasgow and whether the move is formally announced in the coming days. Given that personal terms are reported to already be agreed, and that the transfer fee is understood to be attractive enough to PSV that the Eindhoven club have little incentive to walk away, there is a reasonable basis for Rangers fans to expect this one to go through relatively smoothly compared with the club’s recent near-misses in the Dutch market.
Still, football has a long history of transfers that looked all but complete right up until the moment they weren’t, and PSV’s recent record — three deals lost late in the process this year alone — is a reminder that nothing is guaranteed until documents are signed and medical clearance is granted. Rangers will be hoping that the specific circumstances working in their favour this time — an attractive fee for the selling club and terms already settled with the player — are enough to see this one over the line without the late drama that has affected other PSV departures in recent months.
If completed, the signing would represent another marker of intent from a Rangers side determined to reshape its squad and, in the words of the club’s own leadership, break away from a recent history of accepting underachievement. Whether Driouech’s on-field impact matches the optimism currently surrounding his prospective arrival is, of course, a question that can only be answered once the transfer is complete and he has the chance to make his mark in Scottish football.
