Glasgow Rangers have had their share of successes and failures in the transfer market over the years, finding cheap signings and wasting money on flops.
The Light Blues’ most notable acquisition in recent years has been the addition of versatile defender Calvin Bassey, who had a fantastic spell at Ibrox before being sold for a huge profit.
They signed him from Leicester City’s academy for just £230,000 and sold the Nigeria international, who played at centre-back and left-back, to Ajax for just under £23m in the summer of 2022.
However, Rangers making big transfer profits is nothing new and Claudio Reyna is proof of that as they hit the jackpot with the American star.
The fee Rangers paid for Claudio Reyna
The Herald reported that the Scottish giants paid a transfer fee of more than £2 million to bring in the midfield star from Bayer Leverkusen, while they also had to negotiate with Wolfsburg, where he was on loan, to get a deal over the line.
Reyna, whose son Gio currently plays for Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, arrived in Glasgow in the summer of 1999 after spending two seasons on loan at Wolfsburg.
|
Claudio Reyna (Wolfsburg) |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Bundesliga |
97/98 |
98/99 |
|
Appearances |
28 |
20 |
|
Minutes played |
2,304 |
1,000 |
|
Goals |
4 |
2 |
|
Supports |
2 |
2 |
|
yellow cards |
0 |
2 |
|
Stats via Transfermarkt |
||
As you can see in the table above, the American played football fairly regularly in one of Europe’s major leagues over the last two years prior to his move to Ibrox.
In doing so, Rangers signed a player who had proven he was up to the standards of European football, having arrived at Leverkusen from America at the start of his career in 1994.
The Rangers hit the jackpot with Claudio Reyna
The Scottish giants hit the jackpot with Reyna as he enjoyed a successful spell on the pitch in Glasgow before being sold for a huge profit after less than three years at the club.
In January 2002, according to Totally Money, English Premier League club Sunderland came forward and secured the Gers star’s services for a transfer fee of around £6 million.
According to Totally Money’s index of transfer fee inflation over the years, that £6m fee would be worth more than £13m in today’s money (2024) – so around £13.6m.
Rangers therefore made a big profit in real money at the time and in retrospect they struck gold by signing a player who would be worth more than £13 million in the current market.
The Black Cats decided to sign the USA international after he scored ten goals and registered one assist in 93 appearances in all competitions over two and a half years in Scotland.
Reyna also scored a famous goal against Italian legend Gianluigi Buffon before finding fame with Juventus in 1999, knocking UEFA Cup holders Parma out of the Champions League in the qualifying rounds.
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The versatile midfielder, who could play in the middle of the park or on the right, won two Scottish Premiership titles and a Scottish Cup with the club.
Overall, Rangers hit the jackpot by signing a player who made almost 100 appearances in less than three seasons, contributed to three trophies, scored a famous goal in Europe and was then sold on for a profit.