The call came out of the blue for Neraysho Kasanwirjo. He didn’t need to sleep on it to make his mind up.
The morning after the night before, he boarded a plane to Glasgow and began the next chapter in his career. The link to Kasanwirjo came as a surprise to Rangers supporters but the defender is well aware of what to expect now that he has put pen-to-paper at Ibrox.
A loan move, with an option to make the deal permanent at the end of the campaign, has been signed and sealed. The arrival of Kasanwirjo was the first move of deadline day for Rangers. At the end of a month where the wheels have at times turned slowly, it was a transfer that was put together at short notice for all parties.
“First of all, thank you,” Kasanwirjo told RangersTV after the announcement was made on Friday evening. “I am very excited to join the club, to play for the club and play for the fans. I spoke with the coach and we had a good feeling. I think the most important thing for me is to play and help the club as far as I can.
“I was in Holland with my friend’s family. I was playing at Feyenoord still. Yesterday in the evening, around eight o’clock, my agent called me and said ‘We are going to Rangers’ and I was like ‘OK, I will pack my bags’. We fly in the morning.”
He has landed as Philippe Clement puts the finishing touches to his plans for the season and his preparations for the first Old Firm of the campaign. Deadline day was not as productive as many supporters wished but the Belgian now has no option but to go with what he has at his disposal.
Events at Parkhead on Sunday will shape the narrative around Rangers. It will also go some way to defining their Premiership ambitions. The need to win is evident for Kasanwirjo.
“It is a really big club, obviously,” Kasanwirjo said. “It is a traditional club with a lot of memories. A humble club but we want to win games, we need to win games, we want to take the level of the club up. It is a good step for me.
“I am a feeling person. What the coach told me about the club, what the assistant coach told me about the club. You have to play with your heart, that is what I like. I think this is a really good club to play with my heart and show what I can do.
“Yesterday was the first conversation. It was a good feeling. I know the coach already from Club Brugge and Monaco. So I saw him a little bit, I spoke with a few guys who he had in the past and they say the same thing about him.”
Kasanwirjo became the tenth signing of the window for Rangers as he packed his bags and hit the road once again in his fledgling career. The game has already taken him to a handful of clubs and he must now make a positive first impression on a demanding Ibrox crowd.
The departure of Ben Davies to Birmingham City left a void in Clement’s squad that had to be filled. Kasanwirjo is the man that has been chosen and he is the third addition in that area of the pitch following the deals for Clinton Nsiala and Robin Propper earlier in the window.
“I have played in the youth teams of Ajax and the Under-21s and then I make a step to play games,” Kasanwirjo said. “I played one-and-a-half seasons with Groningen then made my transfer to Feyenoord. I went on loan to Rapid Vienna and now I am here.
“I am a defender who likes to play with the ball. Obviously, I can play my duels, I am fast, I am strong, I can play. That is what the coach is looking for.
“Obviously everyone wants to play European football. That was an extra step for me to choose Rangers.”
Kasanwirjo was welcomed to Ibrox by Clement and Nils Koppen, the director of football recruitment, as his deal was announced. Koppen spoke of his previous knowledge of the stopper after completing a move to add another defensive option to the squad.
The support that Kasanwirjo will play in front of this term know little about the new recruit. Over the coming weeks, he will have a chance to showcase his talents as Clement’s side bid for domestic success and European progression.
“I am very excited because 51,000 people,” Kasanwirjo said. “Who wouldn’t want to play for them? I am very excited. I can’t wait to meet them and I will give all my heart.”
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