As Rangers fans get twitchy over the lack of transfer activity this summer, a quick look at Eintracht Frankfurt’s signings shows how things might have been a little different had the Ibrox side managed to see off the Germans in that Europa League final penalty shoot-out in Seville.
The Bundesliga outfit appear to be taking full advantage of their guaranteed Champions League group stage cash thanks to their victory in the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium as Oliver Glasner’s men prepare to rub shoulders with the cream of the continent in the world’s biggest club tournament.
Eintracht Frankfurt have signed no fewer than nine players and splashed almost £20 million. Their recruits included 2014 World Cup-winning goal grabber Mario Gotze from PSV Eindhoven, Jens Petter Hauge from AC Milan, Argentinian Lucas Alario from Bayer Leverkusen and Hrvoje Smolcic from Rijeka. There’s a “Here’s what you could have won…” feel to it when reading through the lengthy list of signings for Rangers with rivals Celtic also able to spend in the knowledge they have a guaranteed Champions League cheque.
The Ibrox side, of course, could still join them there with two qualifying rounds to negotiate but that could be one of the factors in Giovanni van Bronckhorst being a little more cautious with his signings with only John Souttar arriving after signing a January pre-contract. And here, Record Sport takes a look at Rangers’ potential third qualifying round rivals to look at how busy they have been in the summer window and how their business compares to the Ibrox side.
Monaco
The club based in the billionaires playground of Monte Carlo didn’t hang around to splash the cash as they recruited Takumi Minamino for £15.5 million from Liverpool.
Belgian boss Philippe Clement is focusing on quality over quantity and the Japanese star will be looking to make a big impact after a frustrating couple of years at Anfield, which included a loan spell at Southampton, after impressing at Red Bull Salzburg.
The players from the principality are looking to fire the club into the group stage where they would join fellow Ligue 1 sides PSG and Marseille.
Union Saint-Gilloise
The surprise package in Belgium’s top flight last season as they became the first club ever to finish top after the regular season the first season after winning promotion. They secured Champions League football after finishing second behind Club Brugge in the champions play-off.
And for the club based just outside of Brussels it’s been more about trying to hold onto the players who served them so well last season but the Belgians benefit from sharing the same owners as Brighton & Hove Albion.
That has seen them land £8 million-rated winger Simon Adingra from the Seagulls but their work this summer has been modest.
A signing that sums that up is defender Ross Sykes who was recruited from Accrington Stanley for just £250,000 while others to join include German forward Dennis Eckert on a free transfer from Bundesliga .2 side FC Ingolstadt and youngster Arnaud Dony from Sint-Truiden.
Sturm Graz
The Austrian side wouldn’t hold much fear for Rangers with a modest budget - and of course memories of that 5-0 Champions League thrashing at Ibrox in 2000.
They finished 18 points behind Red Bull Salzburg in the regular Austrian Bundesliga season but haven’t done much to strengthen.
Slovenian Tomi Horvat was signed from Mura, Vesel Demaku from Austria Vienna and left back David Schnegg from Venezia.
Midtjylland/AEK Larnaca
These two sides will battle it out just 24 hours after the draw is made for the third qualifying round.
Rangers know all about the Danes having defeated them in the Europa League in Steven Gerrard’s second season in charge at Ibrox.
Bo Henriksen’s men finished six points behind Copenhagen and have signed young Ivorian Chris Kouakou, centre back Stefan Gartenmann on a free transfer from domestic rivals SonderjyskE.
The Cypriots have signed legendary former Osasuna captain and veteran defender Oier Sanjurjo after beating off competition fro Sporting Gijon while fellow Spaniard Ismael Casas joined from Malaga as Spanish boss Jose Luis Oltra uses his contacts. Bosnian goalkeeper Kenan Piric has also arrived from Turkish side Goztepe as they look to make an impact on their debut in UEFA’s premier competition.
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