Oliver Antman didn't need all that much in the way of convincing when moving to Rangers became a possibility, but one conversation helped seal the deal.
Antman played with Mohamed Diomande at FC Nordsjælland and the pair linked up again in midweek on the right during a 3-0 win over Viktoria Plzen. The Finnish international was a starter less than 48 hours after making the move from Go Ahead Eagles and contributed early on with an assist for teammate Djeidi Gassama.
"I talked with Dio a little bit before I came here. I asked him normal stuff, what life is like here. He only has good things about Rangers. He told me it would be a tougher place than in Denmark but that I would love it," Antman said.
"He said the pressure will be much higher than in Denmark or Holland, and the environment in general.
Antman impressed by winning a penalty and creating a goal at Ibrox on Tuesday as Russell Martin's side defeated Viktoria Plzen 3-0 in the first-leg of their third-round Champions League qualifier. With the 23-year-old having trained only once prior to the game, a half-time sit-down with assistant manager Matt Gill helped him make a real impact after the break.
He continued: "Before the game, I didn't have many tactical meetings or stuff, just the normal things, nothing so detailed. At half-time, I was told to make deeper runs and stay [up the pitch] more. The last goal, which I assisted, was exactly what [the coaching staff] told me they wanted to do."
It has been a whirlwind for the winger this past week. On Saturday, the Rangers Review reported that a deal had been agreed between Go Ahead Eagles and the Ibrox club, by Tuesday, he was donning blue in a Champions League qualifier.
"It has been pretty crazy to be honest," Antman admitted.
"I haven't really had time to, you know, think about everything. Yesterday I had a day off so I could think about what's happened. But also, there was stuff to do with apartments and stuff like that. It's been a crazy, crazy few days. And pretty much straight away when I when I came in the building, I had a game to play. So I'm, I'm happy that it went well.
"I haven't had many real training sessions yet; it's been more tactical work and a lot of meetings and stuff like that. It is a very, very professional place where the standards are very high. I think that's the biggest thing I've noticed, every single moment, you need to be ready and alert and give 100%. There's not a moment in the game or in the training that you can be a little bit dreamy - you have to be alert all the time and the standards are very high."
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Antman, who has been signed to predominantly play on the right but is also capable of operating from the left, says that his mind was made up almost instantly after Martin's side approached his former club, especially given that he'd known of interest from Glasgow for 'quite a while'.
"I'm actually not sure when [Go Ahead] received the first offer. [Rangers] were interested for quite a while. But they made contact, I think maybe one week before I arrived. These things normally take a while," he added.
"For me, the end part went pretty quickly; the medical, media and signing was all done within 24 hours, so yeah, the final part went really, really fast."
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