The Defender Who Has Been Everywhere: Why Ben Godfrey’s Loan Move To Rangers Could Be The Fresh Start Both Parties Need

Derek McInnes is not wasting a single minute. Since arriving at Ibrox as Rangers’ new manager, the 54-year-old has moved with the kind of speed and decisiveness that teǰlls you everything about the ambition driving this summer rebuild. Lawrence Shankland through the door. Ross McCrorie through the door. And now, according to reports from the Daily Record, a third name is set to follow — a versatile, experienced English defender whose career has taken him through some of the most interesting and unexpected chapters that modern football can produce.

Ben Godfrey is set for a season-long loan move to Rangers from Atalanta, and McInnes is said to be “hopeful” the deal will be completed. At 28 years old, with two England senior caps to his name and a career that has wound through York City, Norwich City, Everton, Atalanta, Ipswich Town, Sheffield United, and Brøndby, Godfrey brings a level of experience and adaptability that McInnes needs urgently as he attempts to piece together a back line capable of mounting a genuine Scottish Premiership title challenge.

This is a signing that deserves to be understood properly — not just in terms of who Godfrey is today, but in terms of the extraordinary journey that has brought him to this point, and what a move to Ibrox could mean for a career that has been searching for its ideal home.
To understand why the pursuit of Godfrey is so important for Rangers right now, you first need to appreciate the scale of the defensive problem that Derek McInnes walked into when he accepted the Ibrox job.

The back line that Rangers fielded for much of last season has been fundamentally dismantled over the course of a few weeks. James Tavernier, who served as club captain and right-back for a decade, has left the club. Max Aarons, who arrived with enormous promise, has returned to his parent club. Derek Cornelius’s loan has expired. Nasser Djiga, another loan player who offered real quality during his time in Glasgow, has also gone back to his parent club.

Four defenders gone. Four gaps to fill. And a new manager trying to implement a new system, build a new culture, and prepare his squad for a domestic campaign that begins before the summer is much older.

The urgency of the Godfrey pursuit makes complete sense in that context. The move would add another defender to Rangers at a time when Max Aarons, Nasser Djiga and Derek Cornelius have returned to their parent clubs, and James Tavernier has also left Rangers, which leaves McInnes with a narrower pool to work from before the new campaign starts.

What McInnes needs is not just bodies — he needs quality, versatility, and experience. Players who can come into a new environment, understand what is required of them immediately, and contribute from their very first appearance. At 28, with the breadth of career that Godfrey has accumulated, he fits that description perfectl

Before he was a Rangers transfer target, before he was an Atalanta player, before he was an England international, Ben Godfrey was a kid from York who attended Archbishop Holgate’s School and dreamed of making it as a professional footballer.

Benjamin Matthew Godfrey was born on 15 January 1998 in York, North Yorkshire, England. His father, Alex Godfrey, is a retired professional rugby league footballer. Godfrey is of Jamaican descent through his paternal grandfather. That sporting background — a father who competed professionally, a family with athletic DNA — is the foundation on which Godfrey’s own career has been built.

His early development followed a path through the York City academy before a move to Middlesbrough, and it was during those formative years that the qualities which would eventually take him to the Premier League and beyond began to emerge. Godfrey was always physically impressive — tall, athletic, quick for a centre-back — but what distinguished him from other defenders of his generation was his ability on the ball and his comfort operating in tight spaces. He was never just a stopper. He was always a footballer first who happened to play at the back.

Godfrey captained the York & District under-13 team that beat Southampton at Stadium MK in the final of the English Schools’ FA Inter-Association Trophy in May 2011 — the first time a team from York had won an English Schools’ FA competition. Leadership, then, was always part of his makeup — a quality that would manifest itself repeatedly throughout his career, including as a captain at various clubs during his loan spells.

The move to Norwich City as a teenager gave Godfrey his first taste of a bigger club environment, and his development at Carrow Road was remarkable. He became a key figure in Norwich’s promotion to the Premier League, making 31 league appearances in a season where his consistency and quality were fundamental to the team’s success. By the time Norwich returned to the top flight, Godfrey was no longer a promising youngster — he was an established first-team player ready for the Premier League stage.
Godfrey’s move to Everton in 2020 felt, at the time, like the beginning of the next phase of a career heading in one direction — upward, consistently, toward the very top of English football. The fee was significant. The profile was growing. The England youth teams had already noticed him, and senior recognition felt like a matter of when, not if.

For a period at Goodison Park, everything went according to that script. Godfrey established himself as one of the most exciting young defenders in the Premier League — energetic, aggressive in the right way, capable of driving the ball out from the back with a confidence that reminded observers of some of England’s most celebrated ball-playing centre-backs. His performances earned him those two senior England caps, confirmation that at his best, he was operating at the very highest level of the domestic game.

And then, cruelly and suddenly, everything changed.

A serious leg injury suffered during a Premier League game derailed the momentum that had been building so steadily. The recovery was long. The comeback was complicated. And when Godfrey eventually returned to fitness and attempted to recapture the form that had made him such a sought-after talent, the landscape around him had shifted. Everton were in their own period of turbulence. The opportunities were not flowing as freely as they once had. And a move to Atalanta in 2024, for £11 million, felt like both an opportunity and a reset — a chance to rebuild in a new environment, in a new country, with a new challenge.

The move to Atalanta, on paper, was an exciting one. The Bergamo club have established themselves as one of the most innovative and tactically demanding teams in European football — a club that has produced extraordinary results with limited resources and which has a well-earned reputation for developing players in ways that other clubs struggle to replicate.

But for Godfrey, life in Italy proved difficult in the most fundamental way possible. He has spent his time at Atalanta since 2024 but has struggled to adapt, making just one Serie A appearance. In a squad packed with established defenders and with the demands of Serie A football unforgiving to anyone who cannot perform at full capacity from the very beginning, Godfrey found himself on the periphery — a player with enormous talent and a strong track record who simply could not break into the first team picture.

The response, from Atalanta and from Godfrey himself, was pragmatic. If competitive football was not available in Bergamo, it needed to be found elsewhere — and a series of loan moves provided exactly that, even if the individual chapters of those loans told a more complicated story.

On 22 August 2025, Godfrey joined EFL Championship club Sheffield United on loan for the 2025–26 season. He made his debut the following day in United’s 1–0 home defeat to Millwall. On 19 December, it was announced that Sheffield United had terminated Godfrey’s loan contract early, sending him back to Atalanta. A loan terminated before the halfway point of the season is never a comfortable situation for any player, and it raised questions about Godfrey’s form and fitness that he needed to answer quickly.

On 20 January 2026, Atalanta sent Godfrey on loan to Danish Superliga club Brøndby until the end of the 2025–26 season. He made his competitive debut on 8 February in a 0–0 home draw against Randers, playing the full match. Denmark represented a fresh start, and by most accounts Godfrey used the opportunity wisely — getting competitive minutes under his belt, rebuilding his confidence, and reminding himself what he is capable of when healthy and playing regularly.

Now, Rangers are set to be the next chapter. And this one, in many ways, feels like the most important of all.

The timing of this potential move to Ibrox is significant for several reasons, all of which work in Rangers’ favour.

Godfrey is 28 — old enough to be experienced and physically mature, young enough to still have the very best years of his career ahead of him. Centre-backs, by their nature, tend to peak later than other outfield positions. The physical attributes that make a great defender — reading of the game, positional intelligence, the ability to manage high-pressure situations with composure — all improve with age up to a certain point. Godfrey is right at the beginning of that prime period, and a season at a club of Rangers’ stature and ambition could be exactly the catalyst he needs to fully unlock the potential that those early Everton performances suggested.

He is expected to leave Atalanta on loan even though he remains contracted there until 2028 — a reminder that the deal being lined up is temporary rather than a permanent exit. From Rangers’ perspective, a season-long loan is actually ideal in the current circumstances. It gives them quality and experience in a position of urgent need without committing to a permanent transfer fee for a player who is still rebuilding his career after a difficult couple of years. If Godfrey performs brilliantly at Ibrox — as the talent he has always possessed suggests he can — there may well be an opportunity to discuss a more permanent arrangement further down the line. If for any reason it does not work out, the club’s exposure is limited.

The negotiations are understood to be relatively straightforward, which is encouraging. There are no complicated fee structures to agree on, no rival clubs bidding against Rangers for a loan player, and no agent demands that are likely to complicate matters. The immediate issue for Rangers is not just adding numbers, but replacing the balance lost by departures and returns. Godfrey addresses that issue directly and efficiently.

One of the most appealing aspects of the potential Godfrey signing for McInnes is the versatility the defender brings — and in a squad being rebuilt from scratch, that flexibility is genuinely valuable.

Although routinely deployed as a centre-back throughout his career, Godfrey is comfortable operating at both left and right-back — a quality that gives McInnes options in a squad that has lost cover on both flanks following the departures of Tavernier and Aarons. In a season where injuries are inevitable and squad depth will be tested across a long domestic and European campaign, having a defender who can fill in naturally across multiple positions without losing effectiveness is enormously useful.

There is also an interesting historical footnote. During his loan spell at Shrewsbury Town back in 2017–18, Godfrey played a significant portion of the season as a defensive midfielder — demonstrating an ability to read the game from a deeper position and contribute to the team’s pressing structure that defenders do not always possess. That role is unlikely to be revisited at Ibrox given how long ago it was and how established Godfrey’s identity as a centre-back has become in the years since. But it speaks to an intelligence and adaptability that makes him more than just a one-dimensional defender.

If Godfrey does join, it would mean McInnes’s two signings have both shown a clear level of versatility — McCrorie capable of playing across the back line and in midfield, Godfrey capable of covering multiple defensive positions. Whether that is a deliberate recruitment theme or simply a coincidence remains to be seen, but it is a pattern worth noting as the window continues.

Step back and look at the summer as a whole, and what is taking shape at Ibrox is genuinely exciting — even if individual pieces of the puzzle are still falling into place.

McInnes has moved quickly and intelligently. Shankland gives him a proven goalscorer at the top of the pitch. McCrorie gives him energy and versatility in defence. Godfrey, if confirmed, gives him experience and quality at centre-back. Reports also suggest that Cammy Devlin has agreed personal terms to add steel to the midfield, and the ongoing conversations around Lewis Ferguson suggest further additions are coming in the engine room of the team.

This is a rebuild with a clear philosophy — experienced Scottish Premiership quality combined with players from broader European football who bring something the domestic market alone cannot provide. Godfrey, having played at Premier League level and experienced life in Serie A, fits the second category perfectly. His arrival would add a level of top-flight experience to the Rangers defensive line that has been lacking in recent seasons.

Whether Rangers and Atalanta complete the loan before the new campaign begins will decide how soon Godfrey can slot into the squad at Ibrox. For Rangers, the move is already pointing in one direction: more defensive cover, and a shorter wait for McInnes to put a settled back four together.

That settled back four is what everything else depends on. You cannot build a title challenge on a shaky defensive foundation. You cannot keep enough clean sheets to beat Celtic across a full season if your centre-backs are uncertain or your defensive organisation is poor. McInnes knows this better than anyone — his Hearts team last season was built on defensive solidity, with Cammy Devlin’s energy and work rate protecting the back line and enabling the team to grind out results in the tight games that championships are won and lost on.

At Ibrox, with better players and bigger resources, McInnes wants to build something similar but more powerful. Godfrey is a key part of that foundation.

There is a human story at the heart of this transfer that goes beyond tactics and transfer fees. Ben Godfrey is a player who has experienced the highest highs that English football can offer — Premier League football, England caps, a big-money move to one of Europe’s most exciting clubs — and who has also experienced the frustration and difficulty that comes with injuries, loan spells that do not go to plan, and the search for a club where he can finally feel settled and valued.

Ibrox could be that place. A club with enormous history, a passionate fanbase, a manager who knows exactly what he wants and how to get the best from his players, and a genuine opportunity to compete for trophies in a high-profile domestic league. For a defender of Godfrey’s quality and ambition, that is an attractive proposition — not a step backward, but a genuine opportunity to rediscover the form that made him one of the most exciting young defenders in England just a few years ago.

Rangers, for their part, get a player who has every reason to prove a point this season. Motivated players, hungry to show what they can do after difficult periods, often make the best loan signings — and Godfrey has plenty of motivation to draw on.