Rangers in ‘HEIST OF THE CENTURY’ after stunning €11m transfer

Supporters in France are calling Lille‘s signing of Rangers striker Hamza Igamane ‘the heist of the century’ amid his red-hot form.

The Morocco international completed a late-window move to Europa League participants Lille for a fee in the region of €11 million after demanding to be released by Rangers.

Igamane was desperate to get out of Ibrox and even refused to appear as a substitute in Rangers’ 1-1 draw with St. Mirren in August, claiming that he was too injured to play.

Rangers realised that it was futile to try to keep him and accepted Lille’s bid for the 22-year-old. The French club managed to beat off competition from Dutch giants Feyenoord to secure Igamane’s signature.

The Moroccan will compete with former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Oliver Giroud at LOSC after the 38-year-old made a shock return to Ligue 1 this summer.

Igamane deal the ‘heist of the century’

Igamane’s start to life at Lille could not have gone better as he came off the bench in LOSC’s 7-1 mauling of Lorient before the international break. He immediately scored twice in just 45 minutes of football.

He has carried his form over onto the international stage, scoring in each of Morocco’s two games. He netted once in the 5-0 thrashing of 10-man Niger on Friday and scored a half-volley screamer from outside the box in a 2-0 win over Zambia earlier on Monday.

It was his second goal for Morocco that prompted fans on social media to gush over his quality. One supporter has already dubbed his €11m move from Rangers ‘the heist of the century.’

Foot Mercato journalist Sebastien Denis, meanwhile, has expressed surprise that Lille were the only Ligue 1 club to try to sign him this summer.

While he does not believe that an €11m fee can be considered daylight robbery for a club like Lille, he does view it as an impressive piece of business in a summer that saw hugely inflated striker prices.

“To say that Hamza Igamane was offered to six Ligue 1 teams this summer and that only LOSC really went all in on him. Thanks to Lille for believing in him,” he wrote. “So €11m might be expensive, but when you see the price of some strikers this summer…”

Football transfer news headlines today

CONFIRMED: Amorim will get NEW Man Utd contract

Chelsea have already signed their next superstar striker

Failing Man Utd star gets PAY RISE – Fabrizio Romano

Jackson ‘DEFINITELY’ returning to Chelsea – agent responds to shock Bayern announcement

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:

•Google Play

•App Store