Sports
Bjornebye could land Rangers their own Devlin by signing “unreal” SPFL star
Glasgow Rangers were urged to dip into the market to sign Hearts central midfielder Cammy Devlin after their loss at Tynecastle in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
Journalist Jonny McFarlane stated that the club’s “first order of January business should be to tie up Stuart Findlay and Cammy Devlin on pre-contract deals” because they are both due to be out of contract at the end of the season.
The reporter also claimed that the Australian midfielder “dominated” Nicolas Raskin in the middle of the park with his impressive play, which is why the Gers should look to snap him up in 2026.
Why Rangers need their own Cammy Devlin
Devlin was incredibly combative in midfield against Rangers on Sunday. Per Sofascore, he won 100% of his tackles (2/2), made five interceptions, made four ball recoveries, committed only one foul, and won six of his ten ground duels.
These statistics illustrate how effective he was at disrupting play and breaking up the game to prevent the away side from gaining any momentum, which was key for the hosts in the second half as they clung on to claim all three points.
The Light Blues do not have a similar type of central midfielder in their ranks to perform that same task for Danny Rohl‘s side, hence why Mohamed Diomande and Raskin were “bullied”, as writer Michael McEwan noted.
With this in mind, recently appointed football consultant Stig Inge Bjørnebye should use the upcoming January transfer window, which opens for business next week, to bring in the club’s own version of Devlin to bolster the squad for the second half of the 2025/26 campaign.
The star who could be Rangers’ own Cammy Devlin
Last month, Football Insider reported that the Light Blues are keeping tabs on Kilmarnock central midfielder David Watson, whose contract is due to expire at the end of this season.
Speaking to Football Insider, journalist Pete O’Rourke said: “Yeah, it’s a potential move that could happen for Rangers, as you said.
“The contract situation at Kilmarnock for Watson, opens the door maybe for Rangers to land the player for a cut price fee in the new year. Obviously, Kilmarnock are facing a battle to keep hold of him because no deal has been agreed to keep the player at Rugby Park and they could be forced to let him go.”
The Scotland U21 international could be an attractive target for Bjørnebye in January because, as O’Rourke explained, Kilmarnock may be forced to cash in on him next month before they lose the starlet for nothing in the summer.
At 20, Watson is seven years younger than Devlin and does not have the same level of experience in football or the Premiership, which means that he is not quite at the level of the Hearts star, yet.
However, his performances for Kilmarnock this season show that he has the potential to get there in the future, to be the midfield anchor that the Light Blues are currently lacking in the middle of the park.
The 20-year-old starlet, whose running with the ball was hailed as “unreal” by analyst John Walker, is a combative central midfielder who can also chip in with a few goals, having scored against Celtic back in September.
Watson has already shown that he can offer more as a goalscorer than Devlin from a midfield role, with seven goals in the Premiership since the start of last season, per Sofascore, compared to the Hearts star’s zero.
|
25/26 Premiership |
Watson |
Devlin |
|---|---|---|
|
Appearances |
17 |
18 |
|
Goals |
3 |
0 |
|
Tackles + interceptions per game |
2.9 |
7.0 |
|
Dribbled past per game |
1.4x |
1.9x |
|
Blocks per game |
0.4 |
0.1 |
|
Duels won per game |
5.6 |
8.1 |
|
Fouls won per game |
2.0 |
2.4 |
As you can see in the table above, Devlin has superior defensive statistics pretty much across the board, but that does not make Watson’s defensive contributions poor by comparison.
For example, his 2.9 tackles and interceptions per game are more than Diomande (1.8) and Raskin (2.6) have managed per game in the Premiership this season for Rangers, which shows that he would add more steel to Rohl’s midfield mix.
Given that Devlin “dominated” Raskin and Diomande at Tynecastle on Sunday, signing a young and combative midfielder like Watson, who could develop into a Devlin-level player with more experience under his belt, could make a lot of sense.
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