4 Balkans Rangers transfer options: A former Ajax wonderkid and an ideal Nathan Patterson replacement

Beautiful scenery, hospitable people, tasty food, diverse cultural landscape, and some decent footballers.

One could digress about the temptations of visiting Kotor, Split, or Budva. Still, you’re here to read about Hajduk and which player should be the latest Balkan import to follow a healthy and mainly successful stream since the turn of the century. Pound-for-pound, I’d confidently say the Balkans is the most fruitful region for sporting talent success.

These nations have and continue to compete and succeed in football, basketball, volleyball, water polo, and much more; however, football is our focus until Rangers try their hand again at a basketball team.

Currently, within the ranks, only Borna Barisic and Ianis Hagi hail from Europe’s southeastern block, and I, for one, think we should beef up our Balkan contingent.

So let’s profile four options playing in the Balkans that Rangers could/should target in the immediate future.

Mirko Topic, Fk Vojvodina Novi Sad

It’s a straight shoot-out between Croatia and Serbia for the best footballing nation in the Balkans, and in turn, the nation with the most productive youth development systems. Serbia’s greatest footballing graduates usually come out of either Red Star or Partizan’s academies and then scatter across the continent. The best talent does most often come from Serbia’s big two, however Rangers should target players playing outside of the eternal derby for financial reasons.

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With this parameter set, there is no better option in Serbia than Vojvodina’s Mirko Topic, who is both a fantastic prospect and available on a Bosman. As the graphic below would suggest, Topic is primarily a 6, most often found in the areas where Kamara and Davis habit. At 20, Topic has already been linked with both Man City and Ajax, but the majority of rumours have dissipated for no fault of his own.

The graphic below shows how Topic has fared compared to his positional peers in Serbia during the 2021/22 season. For the most part, 6s are not the most statistically impressive players; both Kamara and Davis don’t have outstanding stats for the most part as a lot of what they do goes unnoticed or is inherently difficult to track and quantify. Regardless, he does maintain some healthy output for a few key metrics. Statistically speaking, he appears to be effective in the tackle, move well with the ball at his feet, and carries a goal threat despite playing so deep.

From speaking with Serbian football fans and watching him, I’d say that much of that is accurate; however, his key strengths are his technique, vision, and intelligence. He is a safe and stable option in possession with decent output out of it; if we are looking for stylistic continuity post-Davis, Topic is your man. So much like Davis, Topic could do with being slightly more aggressive, both in and out of possession. His consistency leaves a bit to be desired, but he is only 20.

A 20-year-old possesses outstanding technique and extensive experience, linked with some of Europe’s super-clubs, available for no fee, this is an avenue seemingly too good not to explore.

Robert Muric, HNK Rijeka

This time it’s one of Croatia’s best domestic talent who was once labelled a wonderkid during his early years at Ajax. Right wing is an area of genuine concern at Rangers so recruiting one of Croatia’s best for what would be a sensible fee with 18 months left on his contract seems like the simple thing to do. As the graphic below suggests, Muric is primarily as a winger but can also play slightly back as a right midfielder, or on occasion, as a no.10 or centre forward.

Muric has outgrown Rijeka, and in all honesty, the HNL, and as a result, will likely receive some offers from teams in the top-5 leagues, but for obvious reasons, Rangers should go all out to secure his services. As evidenced by the graphic below, he is an incredibly dynamic winger who provides a tangible goalscoring and creative threat. His combined assists plus goals p90 for this season is an astronomical 0.76, higher than any forward in the Scottish Premiership. This should come as no surprise given his high conversion rate, a considerable number of shot assists, and smart passes p90.

Muric can attack through a series of angles; he is most effective cutting in on his left foot but is also more than comfortable taking a player on, playing teammates in, and providing real quality from penalties and free kicks. His mix of goalscoring and creative ability doesn’t flirt with the Ibrox faithful often, so we shouldn’t squander the opportunity to tempt him to Glasgow. The massive sea of blue in the graphic below is close to being as good a statistical co-sign as you can get.

At 26, Muric is finally showing glimpses of what was predicted whilst at Ajax. Though he will never fulfil the wonderkid prophecy, he is undoubtedly one of the most cost-effective and intelligent pieces of business that Rangers could do in January or June when he only has a year left on his deal. In turn, he tends to a gaping wound in the squad.

Deian Sorescu, Dinamo Bucharest

Talk of Nathan Patterson to Everton is polarising for many reasons. First, an element of the Rangers fanbase with reason want to see a homegrown star rise amongst our ranks and then cash in, some for whatever reason think he's better than Tavernier, and others like myself feel the money might be too good to turn down. Still, whatever your take is, someone will disagree. The primary reason I wouldn't mind us crashing in is that Patterson doesn't play as much as he needs to as he has club captain and the fulcrum of the side ahead of him, and any potential recruitment to replace Patterson needs to be smart.

My plan of attack would be not to sign a traditional right-back, for him to merely sit on the bench, instead sign someone who has extensive experience playing in a different position so whilst Tavernier is healthy, the recruit can still get minutes, and when needed, fill in at RB. There are few better options in this mould than Dinamo Bucharest's Deian Sorescu. He made headlines last season for his incredible scoring campaign from RB, much like our own; however, unlike Tavernier, he can deputise in several positions, as seen in the graphic below. Sorescu has seen sizeable minutes on either wing and as a right wing-back in a back 5, as such, he would provide both depth at right back and on either wing, something that would not go unappreciated.

The graphic below shows his output compared to wingers and attacking midfielders in Romania’s Liga 1, as this is likely where he would see much of his minutes, and he trounces his peers when it comes to several metrics. Even whilst playing right back, he operates much like a winger, offering plenty of rapid overlapping runs to get to the byline, taking a serious number of shots, plenty of crosses, and not much defending. Much like Tavernier, his attacking exploits would naturally lead to many wanting him to play further forward more often, which is what he would do if he came to Ibrox whilst our captain is still here.

Sorescu has long been linked with Legia Warsaw, and rumours of an asking price south £2m make this an attractive option to consider. However, I’d refrain from bringing in Sorescu if Patterson doesn’t leave; regardless of what occurs, it is a decent situation to be in.

Kiril Despodov, Ludogorets

The post-Berbatov Bulgarian football landscape has largely been bleak, though, the one flickering source of light has been Ludogorets’s Kiril Despodov. As of the 29th of December, his name has remerged on the rumour mill with stories linking him with a return to Italy, this time Brescia and Lecce are the names involved, last time it was Cagliari. Like Muric, Despodov mainly plays on the right wing but can play on the opposite side and straight through the middle at CF as the graphic below corroborates.

To further the comparison to Muric, Despodov also provides everything that the Rangers faithful desires in a winger. The amount of green in the graphic above can be a sore sight for some of us, but it is outstanding within this context. Despodov synthesises both chance creation, finishing, and silky dribbling, profiling like the elite winger he is for this level.

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His attacking and passing rating seen in the graphic below are both sky-high, which is uncommon for most wingers who usually specialise within one of those categories; seldom can do both at such a level. A complaint often and fairly lobbed at the Rangers squad is the lack of symmetrical threat on the wings; Kent always provides it, but often we are left wanting on the right. Despodov would bring “threat” in abundance much like Kent and would in an aesthetically pleasing medium much like Kent himself.

Despodov would likely be a pricy acquisition with suggestions that Ludogorets will hold out for around £4m. I believe he would be worth every penny of that to Rangers and the fans, but the lucky thing is that we might be able to find similar for a lower price, or maybe no fee, in the form of the aforementioned Robert Muric.