Because the boy is now formally our player, and in fact becomes, in the modern era, the most expensive midfield signing we’ve made, and one of the priciest overall.
We don’t know if the £4.5M has further addons, but the deal is done, even if the club hasn’t unveiled it, and the Ivorian is currently in Eindhoven with the squad preparing at the summer camp.
It also as a by-product means that Rangers have actually spent around £9M this summer – £2.5M on Igamane, £800,000 on Jefte, a likely £300,000-500,000 on Connor Barron, and the £4.5M on Dio. Clinton Nsiala and Liam Kelly were completely free.
But that’s another debate – the fact is Diomande is now permanently signed on at Rangers, a contract till 2028 – a four-year deal sorted for the 22-year-old.
So how do we feel about him?
We feel he showed in some glimpses genuine quality, excelling especially in the cup and actually showing some power, pace, composure and a tidy pass.
But we also know January signings often struggle to shine, even if fellow winter addition Oscar Cortes was not an example of this. Dio did, and it took him a lot of time to actually settle.
What we’re saying is he now gets the full preseason, as Cortes does, and the full bonding that allows.
It didn’t exactly work last preseason for Michael Beale – a poor preseason from him and the boys, especially the January additions like Raskin and Cantwell, did not bode well for the full campaign and it did crumble.
And we know Clement (and Dio) will be hampered by no Ibrox for the bulk of the rest of this year.
So we just see how it goes of course, and hope that Dio’s summer stands him in good stead to shine fully next season. He will be a major player under this manager, so we hope he justifies the outlay.
£4.5M and the deal is done.
