Vaclav Cerny’s connection to Rangers began in the 2024-25 season, when the Czech Republic international joined Rangers on a season-long loan from German club Wolfsburg, having previously made just 14 starts for the Bundesliga side after arriving from Dutch club Twente. At the time of the move, then-Rangers manager Philippe Clement described him as an exciting player with valuable European experience, someone who could further strengthen the club’s attacking options. Cerny had progressed through Ajax before spells with Dutch sides Utrecht and Twente, and by the time he arrived at Ibrox he already carried senior international caps and Euro 2024 experience.I
The loan spell proved to be a success on the pitch. Cerny quickly became a fan favourite, contributing directly to matches — including a memorable run where he came off the bench to score the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over St Mirren, adding to two Europa League goals he’d scored just days earlier against FCSB. That kind of impact, arriving in decisive moments, is a large part of why his name has stayed so prominent among the Ibrox faithful even after his departure.
Despite the good form, Rangers were unable to turn the loan into a permanent transfer. Reporting from the Scotsman indicates that a permanent deal failed to materialise partly because of a period of instability at the club — ownership changed hands, and Russell Martin came in to replace interim boss Barry Ferguson in the Ibrox dugout. With the move to Glasgow not going through, Cerny instead completed a transfer to Turkish Super Lig giants Besiktas.
That switch to Turkey turned out to be a smart career move for the player. He performed well in his debut season at the club, registering 15 goal contributions as Besiktas finished fourth in the league — a solid return for a wide attacker. He has carried that form into the new campaign too, already contributing two goals and an assist across the club’s opening five league matches.
Even with him playing in Turkey, though, he never fully left the thinking of Rangers’ recruitment staff. As the Scotsman puts it, Cerny “still has his admirers at Rangers,” and there have been reports of the club making initial contact to explore a reunion.
The most detailed picture of the numbers involved comes from Football Insider’s Transfer Insider podcast. According to that reporting, Rangers will struggle to reach an agreement with Besiktas over re-signing Cerny, with the 28-year-old having emerged as a target for manager Derek McInnes roughly a year on from his impressive loan spell at Ibrox.
The core issue is the fee. Cerny completed his move to Besiktas for around £4.2million last summer, and the Turkish club are now expected to demand a fee higher than that figure if they were to sell him on. Football Insider’s reporting suggests Rangers will find it difficult to match Besiktas’ likely asking price, and crucially, the Turkish side are seen as being in a strong negotiating position, given Cerny still has two years remaining on his contract.
The rationale for Besiktas holding firm is straightforward business logic: they would be looking to recoup at least what they paid for him — if not more — should they sell him just one year after signing him, especially with two years still left on his deal. There is little sense that the club would be in any rush to let their Czech international go. The same reporting acknowledges the emotional pull of a reunion — Cerny is remembered fondly for his time at Ibrox, where he scored plenty of goals — but stresses that the financial mechanics of the deal make it a difficult one to complete.
Other outlets have floated different figures for what a fee might look like. One report from ReadRangers, citing the Daily Record’s Andy Newport, suggested that Besiktas could be holding out for a fee in the region of £8 million — nearly double what they paid for him initially. That same report pointed out comparisons with other recent Rangers business, noting the club’s move for Ryan Naderi in January cost around £5 million, which gives some sense of scale for how substantial an £8million deal for Cerny would be by the club’s recent standards. The report also flagged wages as part of the equation, noting Cerny is currently believed to be on a salary of around £2 million a year, which the article suggests makes the overall package — fee plus wages — a serious financial commitment that leaves any deal “in the balance.”
More recent reporting suggests the financial picture for Rangers may be shifting in their favour. According to RangersNews, Rangers are now expected to intensify their efforts to bring Cerny back to Ibrox this summer, with the player said to be well liked both by the club hierarchy and by manager Derek McInnes, for whom a right-sided winger remains a priority signing.
The report ties this renewed push directly to business elsewhere in the squad: the departure of Oliver Antman to Belgian side Anderlecht for a fee of around £4.5million is described as giving Rangers the financial means to pursue further transfers, including a move for Cerny. Citing the Scottish Sun, the report adds that the funds generated from Antman’s sale are earmarked specifically for signing another winger, with Cerny understood to be the priority target, and that the Antman deal is expected to be completed within days, which would hand Rangers a financial boost in their pursuit.
Crucially, this report frames the fee as the sticking point that has now potentially been resolved, at least in part: the primary obstacle to getting the Czech international back to Ibrox had been the financial side of any deal. With fresh transfer funds now in the pipeline, that obstacle may be less significant than it was.
The most detailed and recent update comes via Turkish television. Veteran Turkish journalist Haldun Domac, speaking on A Spor on 23 August, gave an update on the state of play that paints a picture of Rangers actively pursuing a deal, even submitting a formal offer, but running into resistance from the player himself.
According to Yahoo Sports’ coverage of those comments, Domac claimed Rangers are pulling out all the stops to sign the winger, with the club’s ability to get a deal done potentially hinging on the decision of Besiktas manager Vincenzo Italiano. Domac was quoted directly as saying that Rangers are making a great effort to sign Cerny and have submitted a very serious offer to Besiktas — though it remains to be seen whether Italiano will be willing to let the player leave.
RangersNews carried a fuller account of the same comments, describing a Turkish TV insider’s claim that Ibrox chiefs are “bothering” the player with a serious transfer offer, as Rangers make what’s described as a relentless push to sign him. That report also links the pursuit of Cerny to other business Rangers are believed to be conducting simultaneously: the club have reportedly already lined up a separate deal to sign Kim Min-su from Girona, but still want to bring in another right-sided winger before the transfer window closes.
Domac’s on-air comments, as relayed in that report, described Rangers as having been persistently pushing to get a deal for Cerny over the line, putting Besiktas boss Vincenzo Italiano in a difficult position over whether to let him go. Domac said the club were making a real effort — “bothering” Cerny, in his words — based on the information he had gathered.
However, that same report contains what may be the most significant complication in the entire story: information suggesting the player himself is not currently interested in leaving. Sources close to Cerny reportedly indicate that, despite Rangers’ push to get a deal finalised before the transfer window shuts, he has no intention of leaving Besiktas during this window. He’s said to be settled in Istanbul and happy playing under Italiano, meaning he isn’t looking to move on regardless of whether Besiktas end up accepting a formal Rangers bid.
That report goes on to suggest that, barring a sudden change of heart from Cerny himself, Derek McInnes and Rangers look set to be knocked back in their pursuit — which the article notes raises questions about why the club would push so hard for a deal without first securing buy-in from the player
Put together, the picture across these reports is of a transfer pursuit with real momentum on Rangers’ side — genuine interest from the club hierarchy and manager Derek McInnes, a formal offer submitted to Besiktas, and freshly available funds from Oliver Antman’s departure to Anderlecht that could make a bigger bid more realistic than it looked a few weeks ago.
But the obstacles remain significant. Besiktas are in no rush to sell a player who’s performing well and still has two years left on his contract, and they’re expected to demand a fee well above the roughly £4.2million they paid for him last summer — with some reports suggesting a valuation as high as £8million. And even if Rangers meet that price, the most recent reporting out of Turkey suggests the biggest hurdle might not be the fee at all, but Cerny’s own reluctance to leave a club and manager he’s currently happy with.
There’s clearly a lot of goodwill toward Cerny at Ibrox — from teammates, staff, and supporters who remember his loan spell fondly — but on the balance of the current reporting, a return looks more like an uphill battle than a formality, dependent on Besiktas softening their stance, Rangers being willing to pay a substantial fee, and — perhaps most importantly — Cerny changing his mind about wanting to leave Istanbul in the first place.
