Rangers Beaten To Defensive Target As Fee Level Emerges | OneFootball

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Rangers are set to miss out on Troyes defensive prospect Sankhoun Diawara, with the fee AC Milan are to pay to land him now emerging.

The Scottish side are stepping up their activity in the summer transfer window as they look to provide Derek McInnes with the tools to compete, having already secured additions in Ben Godfrey, Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland.

However, further defensive reinforcements remain a priority before the Scottish Premiership campaign gets under way.

Earlier this month, Rangers ‘entered the race’ for Diawara, who had just one year remaining on his Troyes contract and had repeatedly turned down opportunities to extend his stay.

The 20-year-old played a role in Troyes’ Ligue 2 title-winning campaign last season, making 8 appearances at centre-back while also filling in at left-back on four occasions.

But just as Rangers appeared to be in the mix, AC Milan entered the picture and launched an effort to hijack the deal, with the Italian giants moving ahead of the Gers.

Now, according to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Rangers’ hopes of landing the defender are effectively over, with a move to AC Milan now considered a done deal.

A product of Troyes’ academy, Diawara is set to swap France for Italy, with the Ligue 2 champions expected to receive €3m for his transfer.

For Rangers, missing out on Diawara is a significant blow and they can only hope their next pursuit of a transfer target ends more favourably.

Diawara had been seen as a player with significant growth potential and would have slotted into Rangers’ player trading model.

However, the Frenchman is not the only player they risk missing out on, with Cardiff City attempting to leapfrog the Gers in the race to sign Jens Hjerto-Dahl from Tromso.

They have though signed Serbian schemer Vanja Dragojevic.

Another familiar face Rangers have been linked with wanting to bring back to Ibrox is Nathan Patterson, although they are once again set to battle Bundesliga interest for the Everton full-back.

It remains to be seen whether the Gers can get those deals over the line as they look to build a squad capable of challenging for silverware next season.