Rangers ‘No Longer In The Race’ – Gers Muscled Out By Ligue 1 Club | OneFootball

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Rangers are ‘no longer in the race’ to sign Stuttgart winger Badredine Bouanani, with French outfit Strasbourg emerging as the frontrunners for his signature.

The 21-year-old only joined Stuttgart last summer but endured an underwhelming debut campaign, managing just 458 minutes of Bundesliga action.

As a result, the possibility of a summer departure began to take shape for the Algerian, prompting Rangers to explore a potential move.

The Gers have already bolstered their options out wide with the arrivals of Kim Min-su and Daisuke Yokota, but they had hoped Bouanani could be another piece in the equation at Ibrox.

However, according to German journalist Dennis Bayer, Strasbourg are in ‘advanced negotiations’ with Stuttgart over a potential loan deal for Bouanani.

The deal is yet to be finalised, but Rangers, alongside Schalke, are ‘no longer in the race’ and have now fallen out of contention for the winger.

Meanwhile, Bouanani’s potential move to Strasbourg is understood to be intertwined with Jamie Leweling’s situation at Stuttgart.

Leweling turned down an offer from Everton in recent hours and remains determined to stay with the Bundesliga outfit, although Roma are still keen on the German, meaning a departure cannot be ruled out.

The Gers must now cast their net elsewhere if they are serious about reinforcing the wide areas, with their options already narrowing after Vaclav Cerny showed no appetite for leaving Besiktas.

Rangers do have time remaining in the transfer window, due to the Scottish window closing on 3rd September, while following their exit from Europe, they can also disregard UEFA’s 2nd September squad submission deadline.

The Gers are continuing their efforts in the market, with a number of gaps in the squad still to fill, as they aim to make sure Derek McInnes has the tools he needs to get things back on track.