Olwethu Makhanya is drawing attention from Italy, Spain, Brentford and Sunderland, and a new TransferRoom study has put him and V. Dragojevic at the top of its potential list. The Rangers defender is 22 and from South Africa. Rangers are under no pressure to sell him, but the interest around him is broadening.
Rangers' position on Makhanya
BBC Sport reported that Brentford and Sunderland had scouts at Rangers' win over Kilmarnock on Saturday. That is the concrete sign of how far the interest has spread, with clubs from England now joining the reported attention from Italy and Spain.
Rangers can at least point to a strong run while all of this is going on. They are second in the Premiership with 19 points from 8 matches, and they have won their last five league games. That form does not force any transfer decision, but it does put the club in a stronger place if the phone keeps ringing.
The TransferRoom study
The other strand here is the data-led one. TransferRoom highlighted Makhanya and Dragojevic as the players with the greatest potential, which gives the scouting interest a second layer beyond the match-day sightings.
That kind of attention tends to follow young defenders who are already playing for a club under pressure to keep moving forward. Rangers have no reason to rush a sale, and the source reporting around Makhanya does not suggest they will. What it does show is that his name is already in circulation with clubs active in England and on the continent.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
