Rangers Close to Signing Badredine Bouanani on Loan
Rangers are racing the clock to land Badredine Bouanani – and this one looks close.
According to the Rangers Review, the 21-year-old VfB Stuttgart attacker is undergoing a medical ahead of a season-long loan to Ibrox, with an €18m buy option built into the deal. With only hours left before the transfer window shuts, the expectation is that an announcement follows swiftly, unless late drama intervenes.
From Lille to Stuttgart – and Now Glasgow Beckons
Born in Lille, Bouanani came through the academy at LOSC Lille, working his way up the ranks and featuring for the club’s reserves in the 2021-22 season. He represented France at various youth levels before switching allegiance to Algeria in 2023, and already has five senior caps to his name.
He left Lille on a Bosman to join Ligue 1 rivals Nice, initially slotting into their youth setup before earning intermittent first-team opportunities in the French top flight. A loan spell at Lorient followed, giving him a first proper taste of regular senior football.
The real breakthrough came in the 2024-25 campaign, where his growing influence in Ligue 1 persuaded Stuttgart to pay €15m for his services last summer. It was a statement move for the Bundesliga side and a clear sign of how highly his potential is rated.
Why Rangers, Why Now?
At Stuttgart, Bouanani clocked up 28 appearances across all competitions last season, but most of them came from the bench. Two goals and two assists underline the problem: flashes of talent, but not enough minutes to truly catch fire.
That is where Rangers step in.
Derek McInnes has already brought in Daisuke Yokota, yet the search for a left-footed right-sided forward has rumbled on, with links to Brighton & Hove Albion youngster Amario Cozier-Duberry swirling in the background. Bouanani fits that brief and arrives at a time when the squad badly needs a spark in wide areas.
Rangers’ European campaign has already gone off the rails. A nightmare run saw them dumped out of both the Europa League and Conference League qualifiers, leaving only domestic trophies on the table. Celtic, meanwhile, have set a blistering early pace, five points clear at the top of the Premiership after winning all their league games so far.
The pressure is real. The margin for error is shrinking fast.
An Answer in the Final Third?
Back-to-back wins over Aberdeen and Falkirk have steadied the mood, but the performances have not fully convinced. The build-up play still feels laboured. The creativity around the box still looks thin.
Lawrence Shankland has rediscovered his scoring touch, yet the supporting cast on the right flank remains unsettled. Neither Findlay Curtis nor Yokota has nailed down that berth, leaving McInnes searching for a consistent threat cutting in from the wing.
Bouanani brings exactly that profile. He is quick off the mark, sharp in tight spaces, and loves isolating defenders one-on-one. His close control and low centre of gravity allow him to dart inside, ride challenges, and either slide passes into the box or go for goal himself. When he stays wide, his overlapping runs and whipped crosses add another dimension.
It is not just about tricks and tempo. His composure in the final third should give Rangers a calmer head in decisive moments, the kind of player who can turn a scrappy game with one clean action.
Tactical Flexibility for McInnes
The move also fits the broader reshaping of McInnes’ attacking options.
The club have sanctioned Thelo Aasgaard’s loan to Anderlecht after securing Kim Min-Su, who has already been used as a ‘number 10’ but can also drift in from the left. Bouanani offers similar versatility. While naturally drawn to that right-hand side, he is comfortable operating centrally, knitting play behind the lone striker in McInnes’ 4-2-3-1.
That flexibility could prove crucial over a long domestic campaign. It allows Rangers to rotate without losing fluency, to tweak the shape without ripping up the plan, and to surround Shankland with more movement, more invention, more threat.
If the medical is passed and the paperwork lands in time, Rangers will have secured a high-upside talent who needs a stage and a manager who needs a difference-maker.
Now the question is simple: can Bouanani turn promise into production quickly enough to help drag this title race back into balance?
