LASSANA COULIBALY feared he was on the wrong end of a prank call as Steven Gerrard asked him to join his Rangers revolution this summer.
The midfielder has become the eighth signing of the close season at Ibrox after agreeing a loan switch from Ligue 1 side Angers.
And Coulibaly is pleased to have realised his Gers dream as he gets set to work under Gerrard’s guidance in the coming months.
He said: “I am very happy to be here. When my agent told me Steven Gerrard was the manager, I said ‘no problem’ and I am happy to come and join this team.
“The manager can help me to develop my football and he is someone who I watched when he was at Liverpool.
“I spoke to him when I was in Mali and he asked me if I wanted to join his team, and I said yes, although I was worried it wasn’t actually Gerrard [on the phone]!
“Rangers are a good team and I knew the name before Gerrard came in. I know the team are in the Europa League and I know there is a big rivalry with Celtic.”
The capture of Coulibaly is another significant boost for boss Gerrard as he continues to overhaul his squad ahead of the new campaign.
The 38-year-old will make his competitive debut in the dugout against FK Shkupi on Thursday night and his latest recruit is eager to make a big impact at Ibrox.
Coulibaly told RangersTV: “I am a midfielder and I am physically strong. I like to try and go and win the ball back for my team. I want to do something here and in years to come, the fans will talk about it.
“I think playing for a big team is nice as everyone wants to play for the big teams.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here