Glasgow Rangers have had their fair share of successes and failures in the transfer market over the years, as they have struck gold with bargain signings and wasted money on flops.
In recent years, the most notable success for the Light Blues was versatile defender Calvin Bassey, who enjoyed a fantastic time at Ibrox before being sold for a huge profit.
They signed him from Leicester City's academy for just £230k and went on to sell the Nigeria international, who played at centre-back and left-back, for just under £23m to Ajax in the summer of 2022.
Rangers making a big profit on transfers is not a new thing, though, and Claudio Reyna is evidence of that, as they hit the jackpot on the American star.
The fee Rangers paid for Claudio Reyna
The Herald reported that the Scottish giants paid a fee of more than £2m to snap up the midfield whiz from Bayer Leverkusen, whilst they also had to negotiate with Wolfsburg, where he was on loan, to get a deal over the line.
Reyna, whose son Gio currently plays for Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, arrived in Glasgow in the summer of 1999 off the back of two seasons on loan with Wolfsburg.
Appearances
28
20
Minutes played
2,304
1,000
Goals
4
2
Assists
2
2
Yellow cards
0
2
The American ace had, as you can see in the table above, played fairly regular football in one of Europe's major leagues over the past two years prior to his move to Ibrox.
This meant that Rangers were signing a player who had proven himself to be up to the standard of European football, having come over from America to join Leverkusen towards the start of his career in 1994.
Rangers hit the jackpot with Claudio Reyna
The Scottish giants hit the jackpot with Reyna as he enjoyed a successful time on the pitch in Glasgow before being sold for a big profit after less than three years at the club.
In January 2002, English Premier League side Sunderland swooped in to secure the Gers star's services for a fee of roughly £6m, per Totally Money.
Totally Money have taken the 100 most expensive transfers of all time across each season since 1992 in Europe's top five leagues. Armed with plenty of historical financial data they have calculated what footballers of yesteryear would be worth in the present day after taking into account the remarkable rate of inflation.
As per Totally Money's index on the inflation of transfer fees over the years, that £6m fee would be worth more than £13m – £13.6m roughly – in today's (2024) money.
Rangers, therefore, made a big profit in actual money at the time and, looking back, they struck gold by landing a player who would be worth more than £13m in the current market.
The Black Cats made the move to sign the USA international after he had produced ten goals and one assist in 93 appearances in all competitions across two-and-a-half-years in Scotland.
Reyna also scored a famous goal past Italian legend Gianluigi Buffon, before he rose to prominence with Juventus, to knock UEFA Cup holders Parma out of the Champions League in the qualifying rounds in 1999.
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The versatile midfielder, who could play in the middle of the park or on the right flank, won two Scottish Premiership titles and one Scottish Cup with the club.
Overall, Rangers hit the jackpot by landing a player who almost racked up 100 appearances in less than three seasons, contributed to three trophies, scored a famous goal in Europe, and was then sold on for a profit.
