Rangers have officially signed 26-year-old centre-back Filip Helander from Bologna – the club announced on Saturday.
Filip Helander has come up through the ranks at Malmo and in 2017 he joined his current club, Bologna.
Last season, the centre-back had a really important season for the Serie A side as he featured in 20 games for Bologna despite picking up a knee injury towards the beginning of the season.
Helander becomes the eighth singing for Rangers this summer and the club have reportedly paid a £3.5m fee to bring in the defender which is a staggering amount for the club.
The official report from Rangers FC read: “RANGERS are delighted to announce the signing of Swedish defender Filip Helander from Bologna, subject to international clearance.
“The 6ft 4in centre half has spent the last four seasons in Italy’s top flight, Serie A, but will now join the Light Blues on a four-year deal.”
And speaking about Filip Helander, Rangers legend Derek Johnstone has predicted that the player will make an immediate impact for the club during the 2019-20 season.
“Having watched a bit of him over the last few days, I have been impressed with what I have seen of him. Importantly, he doesn’t look like someone who is short of a word and he is a vocal character,” Johnstone told the Evening Times.
“At around £3.5million, Helander represents a fairly large outlay for Rangers in terms of what they have done in the transfer market recently so there is a bit of pressure on him to justify that straight away.
“You don’t spend that kind of money on someone that isn’t ready to come in and make an immediate impression and that is what Steven needed this summer.”
Joe Worrall was a key man in the Rangers defence last season and with him heading back to Nottingham Forest during the summer, it became imperative that Gerrard brings in a like-for-like replacement.
And Filip Helander seems more than capable of filling in those boots.
