Rangers Exodus Shows No Signs Of Slowing As Antman And Gassama Emerge As Latest Names Facing Ibrox Exit
Rangers find themselves in the grip of yet another significant summer overhaul, and while much of the attention up to this point has understandably centred on the arrivals coming through the door at Ibrox, the scale of change taking place in the opposite direction deserves just as much scrutiny. Derek McInnes has now settled into life as the club’s new manager following his appointment as Danny Rohl’s successor, and the early evidence suggests he is not simply content to bring in fresh faces without also being ruthless about who stays and who goes. With seven new signings already completed ahead of the Scottish Premiership season, the incoming business has been extensive, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the outgoing side of the ledger could end up being just as dramatic before the window shuts.
Context matters here, because this is not the first time Rangers have gone through a summer of this magnitude under the current ownership structure. Twelve new arrivals were sanctioned during the previous transfer window, and reports suggest that Andrew Cavenagh, alongside the 49ers group’s involvement in the club’s decision-making, are on course to oversee another summer of comparable scale in terms of total transfer activity. That is a striking pattern for any club to settle into, season after season effectively rebuilding large portions of the playing squad, and it raises legitimate questions about squad continuity and the time it takes for a group of players to gel, even as it also reflects a clear willingness from those in charge to back the manager and keep pushing for the level of quality needed to compete at the top of Scottish football.
What makes this particular window notable is not just the volume of incoming transfers but the fact that McInnes appears equally active in trimming the group he has inherited. The departures confirmed so far give a clear sense of the direction of travel. Danilo has become the latest player to leave Ibrox, completing a move to Botafogo in Brazil, a transfer that takes him away from Scottish football entirely and represents a fairly clean break for both player and club. Alongside him, John Souttar now appears to be edging closer to an exit of his own, having been left out of the club’s pre-season plans in a move widely interpreted as a clear signal from McInnes that the defender does not feature in his thinking going forward. When a player of Souttar’s experience and standing within the squad finds himself excluded from pre-season involvement, it rarely ends in anything other than a departure, and reports suggest that is very much the trajectory his situation is now on.
But it is the next tier of potential exits that may prove most interesting to Rangers supporters, with Oliver Antman and Djeidi Gassama both now being talked about as players who could follow Danilo and Souttar out of Ibrox before the summer is through. Auchenhowie, Rangers’ training base, looks set for further upheaval as McInnes continues shaping his squad into something that more closely resembles his own vision for how this Rangers side should be built and how it should play.
Souttar’s situation has already been the subject of considerable coverage, with reporting making clear that the defender has effectively been lined up for a move away from the club, in what has been described as a decision that has ultimately vindicated McInnes’s approach to reshaping the squad since taking charge. That framing matters, because it suggests the manager has been decisive and clear-eyed from early in his tenure about which players he sees a long-term future with and which he does not, rather than simply drifting into a series of reactive decisions as the summer has progressed.
According to reporting from Calum Crowe in the print edition of the Scottish Mail on Sunday, Antman and Gassama now find themselves in a similar bracket to Souttar, with McInnes understood to be keen on bringing in at least a couple of fresh options out wide. That desire for new wide players inevitably opens the door to further departures among the existing options in those positions, and it appears both Antman and Gassama are viewed as players who could realistically be moved on if suitable offers arrive at Ibrox before the window closes. The suggestion is not necessarily that either player will be forced out regardless of circumstance, but rather that the club would be willing to sanction their departure should the right proposals materialise, giving McInnes the flexibility to bring in the wide reinforcements he is said to be targeting.
This latest reporting around Antman in particular follows on from previous coverage questioning aspects of his application and mentality since arriving in Scotland, with suggestions that he has, at times, appeared to lack the kind of serious, committed approach that is generally demanded of players operating at a club with Rangers’ expectations and pressures. Whether that assessment is entirely fair or not, the broader pattern of reporting around his situation certainly points towards a player whose long-term Ibrox future looks increasingly uncertain, and it will now be a question of whether an appropriate suitor emerges willing to meet whatever valuation Rangers place on him.
With McInnes seemingly focused on strengthening his wide areas, attention naturally turns to who might come in to replace any outgoing wingers. Rangers have already been strongly linked with a move for Brighton’s Amario Cozier-Duberry, a winger who has previously come through the ranks at Arsenal before impressing during a loan spell at Bolton Wanderers in League One. While that level of form has not yet been enough to convince his parent club he is ready to break into regular Premier League football, a move north of the border to Ibrox represents an entirely different proposition, one that could offer him the platform to develop his game at a significantly higher level than what English League One football provides, while still representing a considerable step up in terms of stage and profile compared to his current situation.
The pitch for Rangers in pursuing a player like Cozier-Duberry is not difficult to construct. The opportunity to compete regularly for domestic silverware, to play in front of large, passionate crowds on a weekly basis, and crucially the chance to test himself in European competition, are all factors that could realistically sway a player in this position towards choosing Ibrox over remaining in the lower reaches of the English football pyramid waiting for a Premier League opportunity that may or may not materialise. For a young winger still building his reputation, the combination of regular first-team football at a big club and a genuine platform in Europe could prove considerably more appealing than continuing to search for a route into Brighton’s first-team plans or accepting another loan move within England.
Rangers’ final pre-season fixture against West Ham United at Ibrox looms as something of a significant marker in all of this. With the visit of the Premier League side representing the sternest test of the summer schedule so far, the performance and selection choices McInnes makes in that match should offer supporters a much clearer picture of where things currently stand, both in terms of tactical shape and which fringe players are being considered for regular involvement once the season proper gets under way. It is widely expected that McInnes will use the following fixture, the trip to face Dundee United in the Premiership opener, as the moment to field what he considers his genuinely strongest available side, meaning the West Ham game essentially serves as a dress rehearsal for those selection decisions.
For Antman and Gassama, the expectation is that neither is likely to feature prominently in that strongest possible XI for the opening day of the season. The wide positions McInnes is expected to favour instead point towards Findlay Curtis and Thelo Aasgaard operating as his preferred options out wide, deployed alongside two central strikers in what has become recognised as the manager’s favoured setup since arriving at the club. That shape and personnel preference offers a fairly strong indication of where Antman and Gassama currently sit in the pecking order, and it reinforces the sense that their long-term futures at Ibrox may lie elsewhere if regular first-team football is what they are seeking.
None of this should be viewed as an isolated situation confined purely to a handful of fringe players either. Rangers’ transfer activity this summer shows no real signs of slowing down, regardless of how many incoming or outgoing deals have already been completed. There remains a clear expectation of further movement in both directions before the window eventually closes, continuing a pattern that has now become something of a defining feature of the club’s recruitment approach under its current ownership and hierarchy. Whether that constant churn of incoming and outgoing talent ultimately proves beneficial for squad cohesion and on-field results remains one of the more interesting subplots of this Rangers season before a ball has even been kicked competitively.
There is also a broader strategic logic underpinning all of this activity that is worth considering. Rangers, like most clubs operating at their level within Scottish football, face a persistent challenge in balancing squad quality with financial sustainability, and that often means moving on players who are either surplus to requirements tactically or whose sale value represents good business relative to their likely level of first-team involvement going forward. Antman and Gassama, whatever their individual qualities, appear to fall into a category where McInnes has identified alternative options he considers a better fit for his system, and rather than simply leaving those players to compete for limited minutes on the fringes of the squad, the club appears willing to facilitate moves that suit both parties, assuming appropriate offers are forthcoming.
For supporters, all of this activity underlines just how significant a rebuilding project this has become at Ibrox since McInnes’s appointment. A managerial change of this nature, arriving amid the surprise and disruption of his predecessor’s own departure to RB Salzburg, was always likely to bring about a period of transition, but the scale of turnover being seen this summer goes well beyond what might typically be expected even in those circumstances. Twelve incoming signings the previous summer, seven so far this time around with more potentially still to come, alongside a growing list of departures that now stretches from established first-team figures like Souttar down to squad players such as Antman and Gassama, paints a picture of a club engaged in continuous, wholesale change rather than the more measured, incremental squad building that some supporters might prefer to see.
Whether that approach proves to be the right one will, as always in football, ultimately be judged by results once the season gets under way. If McInnes’s trimmed and reshaped squad performs well domestically and makes a genuine impact in Europe, then the volume of transfer activity this summer will likely be viewed as necessary and justified business. If results fall short of expectations, however, questions will inevitably be asked about whether such extensive turnover, season after season, is genuinely conducive to building the kind of settled, cohesive squad capable of sustaining a serious title challenge over the course of a full campaign.
For now, though, the immediate focus remains on identifying exactly who stays and who goes as the window edges towards its conclusion. Danilo’s move to Botafogo and Souttar’s expected departure have already reshaped the defensive and squad options available to McInnes, and if reports around Antman and Gassama prove accurate, the wide areas of Rangers’ squad could look considerably different by the time the transfer window finally shuts. Add into that mix the ongoing pursuit of players like Cozier-Duberry, and it becomes clear that Rangers’ summer of change is far from finished, regardless of how much business has already been completed.
Supporters heading into the West Ham fixture and the subsequent Premiership opener against Dundee United will therefore be watching not just for signs of tactical cohesion and early-season form, but also for further clues as to which fringe players are being phased out of McInnes’s plans entirely. The manager’s team selection in those matches is likely to speak louder than any individual transfer report when it comes to confirming exactly where players like Antman and Gassama currently stand in his thinking, and if the expected reliance on Curtis and Aasgaard out wide does play out as anticipated, it will only strengthen the sense that both players’ long-term futures may lie away from Ibrox once the right offer eventually presents itself.
Rangers’ summer, in short, remains very much a work in progress, and with McInnes seemingly determined to continue reshaping his squad in his own image, supporters would be wise to expect further twists, both incoming and outgoing, before this particular transfer window finally draws to a close.
