”The Wrong Rangers” As Major Ibrox Target Opts For Queens Park Rangers | OneFootball

Rangers’ summer window is finally gathering a bit of momentum, with real names being negotiated and tangible movement behind the scenes. But one who won’t be arriving at Ibrox is Peterborough’s Kwame Poku. The Ghana international appears to have made his choice—and it’s Queen’s Park Rangers, not Glasgow Rangers. According to reports, the winger is now set for a medical with the Championship outfit after a last-minute hijack.

Some disgruntled Rangers fans have pointed fingers at Peterborough chairman Barry Fry, suggesting he had a hand in steering Poku towards the English Championship due to a higher compensation payout. And truthfully, that wouldn’t be far-fetched at all. There’s a lot more money when a player heads from League One to the Championship than when they head north to the Scottish Premiership. And let’s be honest—sadly, the English Championship remains a more attractive prospect than Scotland’s top flight in the eyes of many. It’s been reported that Rangers were looking to make Poku part of a potential triple signing swoop alongside other targeted additions.

But here’s the thing—we at Ibrox Noise are not exactly devastated. We’ve said many times before: we want to be signing players at or above the level we’re aiming to compete at. Too often we’ve seen gambles from League One or lower come to nothing. Sure, there’s the occasional Joe Aribo or Matt O’Riley who makes the leap and gets sold on for big money, but they’re exceptions. Most of the time, these projects don’t work. While some overhyped him as the next Dembele, the reality is that kind of billing doesn’t guarantee success.

Mark Warburton tried it. Others have dabbled in it. But aside from Aribo, nobody we’ve brought in from the English lower leagues has ever made us a meaningful profit or consistently performed at the level we need. Calvin Bassey, of course, is the outlier—brought in from Leicester’s academy for nothing and sold to Ajax for £20 million. But even he came from a Premier League system, not League One. Rangers are now focused on bigger moves this window, and rightly so.

So while Poku’s numbers are good, and he’s a standout at that level, he’s still a gamble. Maybe he comes good at QPR. Maybe he doesn’t. Either way, Rangers won’t be finding out. And in truth, that might not be the worst thing.

Unfortunately, some of our support have taken it badly and resorted to abuse and bitterness. That’s disappointing—but not uncommon these days. Either way, while Poku looks to have chosen another path, we’re focused elsewhere. With Max Aarons now incoming, and Conor Coady edging closer, Rangers are shopping in a much more serious market this summer.

Poku might be one who got away—or maybe one we dodged.