Rangers’ January transfer window deals predicted as they sign Tottenham Hotspur star and experienced defender.
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The January transfer window is fast approaching, and based on the way the first half of the Scottish Premiership season has gone, Rangers may well want to do quite a bit of business over the coming weeks – but which of the players they’re linked with will be on their way to Ibrox this winter?
It’s impossible for us to know precisely what Rangers’ decision-makers are thinking, so we decided to see what the most accurate simulation of the footballing future available reckons that they’ll do this January – and loaded up Football Manager 2026.
We leapt forward to the end of the season to find out who they’d signed, who they’d sold, and whether any of their virtual deals worked out and perhaps offered some insights into how such signings might pan out in the real world.
Spurs star signs for Rangers in January – according to Football Manager
Jordan Zemura (loan to buy for £2.5m from Udinese): The London-born Zimbabwe international was getting some hype when he signed for Udinese a couple of years ago but in real life, the left-back has fallen down the pecking order at his Serie A side and that seems to have carried over to virtual reality. Rangers get a potential bargain here, and Zemura rapidly established himself as a solid starter at Ibrox in our save.
Ben Davies (£2.1m from Tottenham Hotspur): The veteran defender isn’t really in Thomas Frank’s plans these days and while this is quite a lot to pay for a player entering his final years, perhaps it’s a fair price for all that experience. Davies ended up as a rotational player only, however, playing solidly but not spectacularly across the second half of the season.
Guillermo Maripán (£775k from Torino): Another veteran addition, the 31-year-old Chilean centre-back is a rocksteady defender in real life and a regular starter for Torino – as he was for AS Monaco beforehand – so this would be a real coup if it took place in real life. And Maripán almost immediately became one of Rangers’ best performers in the game, too.
Leonardo Sernicola (£650k from Cremonese): We must admit that we hadn’t heard of the 28-year-old full-back before, but his real-life stats look very solid for a price tag like that and he became Rangers’ first-choice on the right-hand side, playing very respectably over the course of 13 appearances. Another potential bargain here, perhaps.
Takahiro Ohgiharea (free from Vissel Kobe): Not content to let Celtic get all of the Japanese bargains on the market, Rangers snapped up another veteran, this time on a free transfer – and while he was signed as a back-up, he ended up making nine appearances, scoring once and generally playing pretty well. We wonder if he fancies a trip to Glasgow in real life?
Matondo & Cifuentes among departures in FM2026
Rabbi Matondo (loan to Swansea City): Injury has ruined the Welshman’s chances of establishing himself at Rangers this season and in the game, they decided to farm him out to Championship side Swansea to give him some playing time. He ended up playing 18 games for his temporary side, but they didn’t sign him permanently off the back of it.
José Cifuentes (£1.5m to Toronto FC): We’re not entirely sure why Toronto decided to activate their purchase option on the Ecuadorian early, but the team to which he’s been loaned in real life were clearly sufficiently impressed by the midfielder to give him a permanent deal as quickly as possible. Which means they made a small profit on an otherwise disappointing signing, at the very least.
Emmanuel Fernandez (£425k to Hibernian): Just six months after buying him from Peterborough, our virtual Rangers decided that Fernandez wasn’t up to snuff and flogged him to Hibs on a permanent deal. He didn’t play too much in Glasgow or Edinburgh, so perhaps they were right to cut bait – at least in the game.
So after all that wheeling and dealing, how did Rangers do? Well, they finished second – to Celtic, with a certain grim inevitability. The other side of the Old Firm were the team that spent big on a free-scoring striker in our save (you can see their side of our simulated January here if you like), and that made all the difference. Maybe it will be a little different in reality.