Sport
Likened to Mo Salah, CEO says one-time Rangers target will now cost £34m
Albert Gudmundsson could have cost Rangers just £1 million two years ago and is now rated at closer to £40 million by a Genoa outfit batting away interest from a number of rival Serie A clubs.
You could make quite the team out of the players Rangers could – and perhaps should – have signed in recent transfer windows. Jarrad Branthwaite, an Ibrox target when a teenager at Carlisle United, could soon become the latest £100 million Premier League acquisition after a stellar season at Everton..
Pablo Torre, meanwhile, is emerging as a key part of the Girona side looking to ‘do a Leicester’ in La Liga, as Andres Skov Olsen continues to go from strength-to-strength in Belgium.
As for Albert Gudmundsson, a player who was linked with Rangers midway through 2021/22 has seen his price-tag rise from £1 million to £34 million after a stunning start to life in Serie A with Genoa (The Telegraph).
Rangers could have had Albert Gudmundsson for £1 million
“For Albert, we had an offer three days before the transfer window closed (last month-. Fiorentina called me and told me they wanted the Icelander. I told them not to send us offers because we wouldn’t sell him,” Genoa CEO Andres Blazquez tells Tuttomercatoweb.
“I told (Fiorentina); ‘I’ll tell you a price so you understand that we don’t want to sell him. 40 million’. An offer came and it took me three minutes to say no. I thanked them for the offer but declined.”
Gudmundsson was a talented if inconsistent forward plying his trade at AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie when those Rangers rumours emerged two years ago. Flash forward to February 2024 and, with nine to his name and 11 across all competitions, the late-blooming Iceland international is fourth in Serie A’s Golden Boot standings.
11-goal star earning Salah comparisons
“I know (Fiorentina) insisted a lot with Albert,” Blazquez adds, Gudmundsson’s fine form at Genoa drawing comparisons with Mo Salah’s time at Roma.
“He came to me, he told me that they had made him a very important offer and what he thought about it. I replied; ‘You are too important for us to sell you right now. We can’t sell you. For us, you are the difference between being able to reach the top ten and, without you, we can’t get there.
“You are a very important player for us, and I can’t give you away.”
