Rangers are prepared to leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of PSV Eindhoven winger Couhaib Driouech, according to sources who have spoken directly to Ibrox News about the state of play behind the scenes. The message emerging from those close to the negotiations is unambiguous: this is not a speculative enquiry or a name being casually floated by an agent looking to stir interest elsewhere. Rangers see Driouech as a genuine, concrete target, and the club is understood to be fully committed to doing whatever it takes within reason to get a deal over the line before the transfer window shuts.
PSV, for their part, appear to have accepted that Driouech’s time in Eindhoven may be coming to an end. The Eredivisie giants signed the Moroccan international for a fee in the region of £3million, a deal that at the time represented shrewd business given the calibre of player they were bringing in from a smaller Dutch club. Two years on, however, PSV are understood to be open to cashing in, recognising both the financial upside of selling a player who has developed significantly during his time at the club and the reality that his path to regular first-team football in Eindhoven has become considerably more congested. Crucially, the willingness to do business is not confined to the boardroom. Driouech himself is said to be receptive to the idea of a fresh challenge after two seasons wearing the PSV shirt, adding a further layer of momentum to a move that increasingly looks like a matter of when, rather than if, terms can be agreed.
That does not mean, of course, that the deal is close to being a formality. While Driouech looks every inch a concrete target for Rangers, sources are keen to stress that it remains to be seen whether an agreement can actually be struck with PSV on the numbers involved. Transfer negotiations of this nature rarely move in a straight line, and the gap between what a selling club values a player at and what a buying club is prepared to pay can often take days or even weeks of back-and-forth to close, if it closes at all. For now, though, the direction of travel appears positive for Rangers, even if the final furlong of any deal is likely to prove the trickiest part of the entire process.
Driouech’s underlying numbers from last season help explain exactly why Rangers have identified him as such a priority target this summer. In the 2025-26 campaign, the left-footed forward made 29 league appearances for PSV, though only five of those came as starts, a detail that speaks to the intense competition for places he has faced during his time at the Philips Stadion. Despite the limited number of starts, Driouech still managed to contribute four goals and six assists in the Eredivisie, numbers that reflect an ability to make a genuine, tangible impact even in a squad rotation role, often coming off the bench to change games in PSV’s favour during the closing stages. For a player who has spent much of the past two seasons fighting for regular minutes rather than being guaranteed a starting berth, that kind of productivity per appearance is a striking indicator of the natural talent and end product he possesses.
It is worth pausing on that detail for a moment, because it says something important about the profile of player Rangers are hoping to bring to Ibrox. A winger who can consistently contribute goals and assists even when used predominantly from the substitutes’ bench is, in many ways, an even more attractive proposition than one who racks up similar numbers from a guaranteed starting role. It suggests a player with genuine game-changing qualities, someone capable of altering the complexion of a match in short bursts, reading situations quickly and making decisive contributions in critical moments. Should Driouech move to a club like Rangers, where he would likely be given a far greater share of regular starts than he has enjoyed at PSV, there is every reason to believe those underlying numbers could improve significantly simply as a result of increased playing time and a more settled role within the team.
The financial details of the negotiation have also begun to emerge in recent days. PSV are understood to have rejected an initial bid from Rangers for Driouech, with the Eredivisie outfit holding out for a fee somewhere between £6million and £6.8million to sanction his departure. That represents a substantial gap between what Rangers have offered so far and what PSV are demanding, and it underlines the scale of the negotiation still to be worked through if a deal is to be completed before the transfer window closes. Soccernews.nl journalist Mounir Boualin, who was the source of the original report linking Rangers with Driouech, has revealed that the opening offer sent from Ibrox amounted to what he described as a few million pounds, a starting point that PSV have so far deemed insufficient given their own valuation of the player.
Beyond the numbers, it is Driouech’s performances on the biggest stage that have really captured the imagination of those tracking his situation, and it is not difficult to understand why Derek McInnes and his recruitment staff have been so keen to push this deal forward. The winger enjoyed a series of eye-catching displays in last season’s Champions League campaign, contributing three goals and two assists across seven appearances for PSV in Europe’s premier club competition, with only one of those seven outings coming as a start. Producing that kind of return from predominantly substitute appearances against elite continental opposition is precisely the sort of statistic that tends to grab the attention of recruitment departments right across European football, and it goes a long way towards explaining why Rangers view Driouech as a genuine difference-maker rather than simply another squad option.
Speaking directly to Ibrox News, Boualin offered further insight into exactly what kind of player Rangers are hoping to bring to Glasgow. He described Driouech as a very fast attacker who is goal-oriented and extremely dangerous for opponents on the counter-attack, a characterisation that fits neatly with the eye test many neutral observers have applied to his performances over the past twelve months. Boualin went on to highlight the winger’s particularly strong form in last season’s Champions League, noting that he scored good goals against Liverpool and Napoli among others, results that speak to a player who does not shy away from the biggest occasions and, if anything, seems to raise his game further when the stakes and the level of opposition increase. Boualin was also unequivocal in confirming the mood surrounding the negotiation from the PSV side, stating plainly that the Dutch club are open to selling Driouech and that the player himself is open to taking the next step in his career. As for Rangers’ level of commitment to getting the deal done, Boualin’s assessment could hardly have been clearer: the Glasgow club, in his words, are going all out for it.
That kind of characterisation from a well-sourced journalist covering the Dutch football scene will only fuel excitement among Rangers supporters who have watched the club’s summer rebuild unfold with genuine enthusiasm so far. It also reinforces a wider narrative that has followed Driouech throughout his career to date, with reports suggesting he has actually been on Rangers’ radar for considerably longer than this current transfer saga might suggest. According to some reports circulating on social media in recent days, Driouech was first identified as a potential Rangers target back during his time at Excelsior, the Dutch second-tier club where he first established himself as a serious professional prospect before eventually opting to join PSV instead. That detail adds an interesting subplot to the current negotiations: two years after choosing Eindhoven over Glasgow at an earlier crossroads in his career, circumstances have now shifted sufficiently that a move to Rangers is very much back on the table, and by most accounts, one that appeals to the player just as much as it does to the Ibrox recruitment department.
There is also a broader financial dimension worth considering when assessing why Rangers appear so determined to push this deal through despite the current gap in valuation. Modern transfer negotiations rarely settle purely on the headline fee alone, and it would not be unusual to see the two clubs eventually find common ground through a combination of an upfront payment closer to Rangers’ original offer, supplemented by a structure of add-ons tied to specific performance triggers such as appearances, goals contributed, European qualification or a potential future sell-on percentage. That kind of flexible deal structure has become increasingly common in cross-border transfers involving clubs operating with different financial constraints, and it offers a plausible route through which PSV’s £6million to £6.8million valuation and Rangers’ more conservative opening offer could ultimately be reconciled without either side feeling they have been forced into an unfavourable position.
It is also worth noting the timing of this pursuit within the broader context of the summer transfer window. With deadline day fast approaching, both clubs are operating under a certain amount of time pressure that can often accelerate negotiations considerably in the closing days of the market. PSV, having already secured back-to-back Eredivisie titles and with their own squad planning largely settled for the season ahead, may find themselves more inclined to accept a fee closer to Rangers’ valuation simply to bank a fee for a player whose immediate first-team involvement has already been squeezed by internal competition. Rangers, for their part, will be conscious that missing out on Driouech at this stage of the window could leave them short of viable alternatives capable of delivering the same kind of proven end product and Champions League pedigree before deadline day arrives.
Should Rangers succeed in getting Driouech through the door, the implications for the club’s existing wide options would be significant, and worth exploring in some detail. Daisuke Yokota has already become the ninth addition of the summer at Ibrox, with the Japanese attacker completing a move from Hannover 96 for a fee reported to be around £2.75million plus potential add-ons, joining up with the squad in Poland ahead of Europa League qualifying action. Yokota’s arrival has already begun to reshape the picture out wide, and further movement is expected before the window closes, both in terms of incomings and outgoings.
On the departures side, the exits of Oliver Antman and Nedim Bajrami have already opened up genuine space for further additions in the wide areas at Ibrox. Both players had previously formed part of McInnes’s attacking options, and their respective moves away from the club have effectively created room for fresh faces to be integrated into the squad without simply adding to an already bloated group of wide players. That context matters when assessing the Driouech pursuit, because it suggests Rangers are not simply stockpiling wingers for the sake of it, but are instead conducting a considered reshaping of their attacking department, moving certain players on to make space for what the club hopes will be clear upgrades in terms of quality and output.
Elsewhere in the squad, Ross McCausland remains on Rangers’ books for now, though there is a growing sense around the club that it would not be a huge surprise to see him seal a departure of his own before the summer transfer window draws to a close. Should that scenario play out, it would further thin the ranks of established wide options at Ibrox, adding even greater weight and urgency to the club’s efforts to land both Yokota’s new attacking partner and any further reinforcements deemed necessary before deadline day arrives. For a player who has come through the club’s own development pathway, any potential exit for McCausland would represent another significant shift in the makeup of Rangers’ attacking unit heading into the new campaign.
That leaves Findlay Curtis and Djeidi Gassama as the two other recognised natural options out wide currently available to McInnes. Both players offer the manager genuine alternatives in the attacking third, though the composition of the group as a whole is clearly shifting rapidly as the transfer window progresses. Curtis, in particular, represents an especially interesting subplot given his status as a young Scotland international with a genuine future at the club. Should Rangers complete a deal for Driouech, it will be fascinating to observe exactly how the pecking order settles out wide, and what that means specifically for Curtis’s game time and development path over the course of the coming season.
Based on the current picture emerging from Ibrox, it looks increasingly likely that Curtis and Gassama will find themselves competing directly with one another for a starting berth on the left flank, an area of the pitch where both players are naturally more accustomed to operating. On the opposite side, meanwhile, Yokota already appears to have established himself as McInnes’s first-choice option on the right, with Driouech, should his move be completed, expected to provide direct competition and further depth in that same area, given his own tendency to operate effectively either as an orthodox left winger or, when required, cutting in from a wide right role. That dynamic would give Rangers considerably greater strength in depth across both flanks than the club has enjoyed for some time, with genuine competition for places likely to raise standards throughout the wider squad as players fight to secure regular starting positions under McInnes.
For the young Scotland international Curtis specifically, the coming weeks and months promise to be a particularly interesting period of his development. Breaking into a Rangers side that is clearly being reshaped with significant investment and ambition this summer was always going to require him to fend off stiff competition, but the prospect of a fully fit, in-form Driouech potentially arriving to bolster the wide areas even further only sharpens that challenge. How McInnes ultimately chooses to balance opportunity for emerging homegrown talent against the temptation to lean on more experienced, higher-profile new arrivals will be one of the more fascinating subplots to track as the new Scottish Premiership season gets fully underway.
For the young Scotland international Curtis specifically, the coming weeks and months promise to be a particularly interesting period of his development. Breaking into a Rangers side that is clearly being reshaped with significant investment and ambition this summer was always going to require him to fend off stiff competition, but the prospect of a fully fit, in-form Driouech potentially arriving to bolster the wide areas even further only sharpens that challenge. How McInnes ultimately chooses to balance opportunity for emerging homegrown talent against the temptation to lean on more experienced, higher-profile new arrivals will be one of the more fascinating subplots to track as the new Scottish Premiership season gets fully underway.
It is a challenge, of course, that comes with the territory whenever a club embarks on the kind of ambitious, wide-ranging squad rebuild Rangers have undertaken this summer. Every new arrival, by definition, squeezes the pathway for existing squad members and academy graduates hoping to force their way into regular contention, and wingers such as Curtis will need to respond to that increased competition with performances on the training ground and in whatever opportunities do arise, whether in cup competitions, substitute appearances or spells deputising for injured or rested teammates. History suggests that the very best young talents tend to relish rather than shy away from that kind of challenge, using increased competition for places as motivation to elevate their own performance levels rather than being discouraged by it, and it will be intriguing to see which category Curtis falls into over the course of the season ahead.
For McInnes, meanwhile, the emerging picture out wide represents exactly the kind of selection headache every manager ultimately wants to have. Rather than being forced to rely on a threadbare group of attacking options due to injuries or a lack of squad depth, the Rangers boss looks set to enter the new campaign with a genuine array of alternatives across both flanks, each offering a slightly different profile and skill set to call upon depending on the specific demands of a given opponent or tactical setup. Yokota’s tendency to cut inside from the right, Driouech’s directness and eye for goal on the counter-attack, Curtis’s homegrown promise and Gassama’s own attributes on the left all combine to give McInnes considerably more tactical flexibility than his predecessors have enjoyed in recent seasons, a luxury that could prove decisive over the course of a long campaign spanning domestic league football, cup competitions and continental European action.
Taken as a whole, the picture emerging from Ibrox is one of a club moving with real purpose and clarity of vision in the transfer market. Rangers have already been extremely active this summer, and the pursuit of Driouech represents what could prove to be one of the most significant remaining pieces of business before the window shuts. With PSV holding firm on their valuation for now, and Rangers reportedly prepared to go all out to get a deal done, supporters can expect further twists and turns before this particular transfer saga reaches its conclusion. Whatever the eventual outcome, the sheer volume and ambition of the activity at Ibrox this summer suggests a club determined to put last season’s trophyless campaign firmly behind it, with McInnes clearly backed to build a squad capable of competing on multiple fronts once the action gets underway in earnes
