£8million star’s father opens door to Rangers move

The father of £8 million wonderkid Oscar Gloukh believes he is ‘ready’ to leave Maccabi Tel Aviv amid reported interest from Scottish Premiership giants Rangers, speaking to Sport5.

Gloukh races in behind the opposition defence, skips around an onrushing goalkeeper, looks up and weighs up his options. The angle is tight. There are two defenders positioning themselves on the goal line. What does he go from here? Well, here’s your answer.

The teenager opts plucks the sandwedge out of his bag and lofts the most effortless of dinks beyond a pair of despairing defenders and into the back of the net.

For one so young, Gloukh plays the game with the sort of clarity more readily associated with playmakers at their peak. No wonder Maccabi Tel Aviv are reluctant to accept offers below the £8 million mark for a player who, despite only turning 18 in April, already has some of the biggest clubs in Europe clamouring for his signature.

Borussia Dortmund and Ajax are interested. That is to be expected, given that both clubs are famed throughout the continent for plucking future superstars from relative obscurity. 

According to the Scottish Sun, Rangers also sent scouts to watch Gloukh during Israel’s clash with France’s U19s this week.

I feel he is more ready than a couple years ago to make the move to a big league. I see him as a player who can cope in Europe,” explains Gloukh’s father, opening the door to Rangers and co.

“I’m not saying he will have an easy life. He will have to compete with a lot of players for his place. (But) if it’s possible to leave, he will leave.”

It’s fair to say Gloukh Sr has played a key role in his son’s remarkable rise into one one of the most exciting attacking midfielders in the game.

“It’s exciting to see where he has got to. I’m not really surprised (he’s reached this level). I know exactly how I worked with him and how I raised him,” the teenager’s father adds.

He worked his hardest to get where he is. He practiced from a year old and worked with tears in his eyes. People asked me why I made life difficult for him and I said that, in time, he would go far. That was my intention.

“I just tell him to have fun and do what he knows. The sky is the limit.”

An £8 million fee would make Gloukh one of the most expensive signings in Rangers’ entire history. Then again, an 18-year-old with such colossal potential and re-sale may be a risk worth taking.