Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara admits he hopes to move to a "top five" European league as he addressed his Ibrox future for the first time since links with OSG Nice.
The Finland international has been linked with a number of potential suitors last summer but Gio van Bronckhorst had been keen to hold on to the former Dundee man, with speculation over his future reaching boiling point on deadline day amid talks of a move to Ligue 1. Reports in France suggested that the player’s agents travelled to the Allianz Riviera in an attempt to thrash out a deadline day deal with Nice willing to go up to £10million to seal a move for Kamara.
A deal failed to materialise and the 26-year-old remained at Rangers, and he has found game time more difficult to come by this term having been in and out of the starting line-up under Gio van Bronckhorst. He has made just two starts this campaign so far, the last of which came when he was hooked at half time in their hammering at Celtic.
And he admitted that he's not in an ideal situation at Ibrox at the moment. He said: "The head coach decides the team. Whether I'm on the bench or on the pitch, I'll do my job. I work hard, I just have to keep doing it. That's the truth.
"Sometimes I know why I'm not in the starting line-up. I've talked to the manager sometimes after games or before a match. Of course, it's difficult to have full confidence when I don't get to play.
"I haven't played in that many games now or started many. It hasn't been easy. As I said, you have to keep working and then everything will be fine."
And former Arsenal player Kamara, in an interview in Finnish publication Helsingin Sanomat, admits he's made no secret that he would love to try to move up a level.
He said: "I have always dreamed of playing in the Premier League. And perhaps not just playing in the English Premier League, but in the top five leagues in general. They all interest me.
"Let's see what happens. My time at Rangers has been good. The club has been good to me. I've been there for almost four years. Who knows what the future will bring. Maybe we just have to wait and see what happens."
And Kamara - who insisted he had moved on from the Kudela incident 'a long time ago' - revealed how much he regrets Rangers falling at the final hurdle last season in that agonising penalty kick shoot-out defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League Final.
He recalled: "The place in the final was a huge deal for the club and the fans. It was something that many of us players hadn't experienced before. It was something new and at the same time a little unreal.
"After beating RB Leipzig, it hit me that we are indeed in the final. Maybe I only realised it properly a few days later. It was definitely an experience, but of course, I would like to have won the final. We just weren't good enough on the day. It was hard to digest that result.
"That was a highlight and definitely winning the league was too. It was a strange time because of Covid. Of course, winning the Scottish Cup was also a highlight."
The midfielder is the centre of another racism storm after playing for his country in their 2-0 win over Montenegro on Monday. UEFA have since launched an investigation after the Finish star was allegedly targeted by a home player during the clash. Kamara was previously racially abused by Czech defender Ondrej Kudela, during a Europa League match, with the then Slavia Prague player receiving a ten-game ban.
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