The signing of VfB’s £15M man Badredine Bouanani sure came out of the blue for Rangers. Ibrox fans had no idea who he was, and the Algeria winger really was an 11th hour signing at the tail end of the window.

Curiously, Derek McInnes also didn’t have a clue either, and the next thing he knew, a random new winger was in his squad.

To paint the picture:

“Oh, I don’t know anything about that. I don’t even know what the figure is to make it permanent. It was just a kind of last-minute loan deal that we were keen to push through. So, I don’t really know the ins and outs of the deal. But certainly for now, we’re enjoying working with Badredine. I think he’s shown his quality. He’s took a wee bit of time to get up to speed.”

The key part here is ‘last-minute loan deal’.

Bouanani to Rangers

In other words, a signing McInnes didn’t know about and that appeared out of nowhere.

We don’t know who scouted Bouanani, or who became alerted to his availability, but randomly Rangers’ recruitment sniffed out this fringe Stuttgart winger and thrashed out a fast loan to bring him to Govan.

And the reports we’re seeing of Rangers paying £15M for Badredine Bouanani as permanent are probably way off the mark as well.

The Bouanani situation is definitely ‘eccentric’ to say the least. But in recent weeks he’s arguably been Rangers’ most potent creative spark, and become undroppable. Although McInnes still did v Hearts.

Will Rangers secure him? That one is up in the air.

£15M Badredine Bouanani

The option to buy is in the loan, but the fee is now a mystery. We just don’t quite believe the £15M tag place on his head by ITK on social media.

He won’t be cheap though. VfB themselves paid about €15M rising to 20. It hasn’t risen to the 20. And they probably don’t want to lose too much on him.

Rangers are looking at at least the ballpark of Kevin Kelsy and Yousself Chermiti – £10M-£12M.

But that McInnes is in the dark on the whole thing probably says as much as it doesn’t.

For now, like Del says, we’re just enjoying the lad. Bit like Mikey Moore really.