There was plenty of excitement building around Ibrox after the 49ers and Andrew Cavenagh completed their takeover of Glasgow Rangers earlier this year.
Supporters dared to dream as a new manager, Russell Martin, came through the door and the owners were willing to invest money to improve the playing squad.
The 49ers and Cavenagh oversaw a busy summer of transfer business in an attempt to overhaul the squad that ended the 2024/25 campaign without any trophies to show for their efforts.
Djeidi Gassama was one of the early signings who caught the eye after his £2.2m move from Sheffield Wednesday, as he scored four goals in his first four appearances, per Sofascore.
Bojan Miovski, who scored 32 goals in the Scottish Premiership in two seasons with Aberdeen, also arrived as a headline signing from Girona at the end of last month.
Perhaps the most intriguing addition of the summer transfer window for Rangers was their penultimate signing, Portuguese centre-forward Youssef Chermiti.
Why Youssef Chermiti is Rangers' most interesting signing
The 49ers sanctioned a deal to sign the 21-year-old striker for an initial fee of £8m that could rise to £10m if the £2m in add-ons are achieved in the years to come.
This means that Chermiti is the most expensive signing made by the Light Blues since they paid £12m to sign Tore Andre Flo from Premier League side Chelsea in the summer of 2000.
Straight off the bat, this makes the Portugal U21 international an intriguing signing for Rangers because they seem to believe that he is a good enough player to warrant such a seismic transfer fee, by their standards.
Appearances
20
4
Minutes
287
49
Shots
8
3
Goals
0
0
Key passes
5
0
Assists
0
0
As you can see in the table above, Chermiti did not enjoy a successful time during his two years in England with Everton, as he failed to score a single goal or provide any assists in 24 first-team appearances.
The Toffees signed the young marksman from Sporting in a deal worth up to £15m in the summer of 2023, with Kevin Thelwell behind the scenes, and they were willing to take a fairly significant loss on the striker after just two years.
His only two goals for Everton’s senior side came in a friendly match against Sligo Rovers in 2024, and his complete lack of impact in competitive games may be why they were willing to take a hit on the £15m that they paid for him.
This is why Chermiti is the most interesting signing of the summer for Rangers because, on current evidence, he does not appear to be worth the £10m, or £8m guaranteed, that the club have splashed on him.
It is now up to Chermiti and Russell Martin to work together to ensure that he delivers consistent and quality performances on the pitch to make this transfer a success, changing the narrative from £10m risk to £10m bargain.
Per Transfermarkt, no permanent Rangers player is worth more than £8.7m, which speaks to how expensive this £10m deal for the striker is, but there is a former Gers starlet who is now worth millions more than that, Billy Gilmour.
Market Movers
Football FanCast’s Market Movers series explores the changing landscape of the modern transfer market. How much is your club’s star player or biggest flop worth today?
The Scottish central midfielder came up through the youth ranks at Ibrox and appeared destined for first-team football in Glasgow, before he decided to pursue a career down south.
Why Rangers must rue losing Billy Gilmour
In the summer of 2017, Premier League giants Chelsea swooped to sign Gilmour from Rangers and paid a development fee of £500k for the 15-year-old talent, who was said to be one of the biggest prospects in Scottish football.
Sky Sports reported that manager Pedro Caixinha attempted to convince the teenage midfielder to turn down a move to Stamford Bridge to continue his development at Ibrox, but he was unable to change the player’s mind.
Seven years on from that moment in history, Rangers must still rue that they were unable to pitch Gilmour a good enough project to convince him to remain at the club instead of making the move to Chelsea.
Whilst the central midfielder, whose attitude was dubbed “incredible” by Roberto De Zerbi, was always destined to move on from Scottish football at some point, the Gers could have at least earned more money from his sale by keeping him until he had a chance to shine at first-team level.
Gilmour has gone on to win the Champions League with Chelsea, sign for Brighton & Hove Albion, and sign for Italian giants Napoli, winning the Serie A title in the 2024/25 campaign.
By the age of 24, the midfield metronome has been capped 40 times by Scotland, played 81 times in the Premier League, and played 29 matches for his current club Napoli, per Transfermarkt.
Billy Gilmour
£17m
Nathan Patterson
£13m
Greg Taylor
£5m
Lewis Morgan
£3m
Ryan Hardie
£1.5m
As you can see in the table above, Gilmour’s market value has also soared to a staggering £17m from the £500k that Chelsea paid for him just over seven years ago.
The 24-year-old star is now worth £7m more than the deal Rangers have agreed with Everton for Chermiti, and £4m more than any other former Ibrox academy starlet, which speaks to how successful he has been since moving away from Glasgow.
Based on what he has achieved in his career already, it would be difficult to make a case to say that Gilmour made the wrong decision to leave Rangers to join Chelsea in 2017.
However, the Gers will almost certainly rue not doing enough to convince the player to stay because he would currently be the most valuable permanent player in the current squad, ahead of Raskin at £8.7m, per Transfermarkt.