Niklas Dorsch, former Bayern Munich midfielder and presently contracted with FC Heidenheim, is said to be the latest transfer target that Rangers have opened talks for according to reports in Sky Germany.
Niklas Dorsch, 22, who has three caps for Germany Under-21s, joined Bayern Munich in 2012 aged 14, and managed just one senior appearance, scoring in a 4-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt. But, he moved on in search of regular opportunities in the summer of 2018 and has become a huge success at Heidenheim where he has played a crucial part in their league campaign by appearing in 23 of their 25 league fixtures so far this season.
The 22-year-old’s contract with FC Heidenheim runs until 2021 and has a release clause of just over £3m in his present contract according to a previous report by the Scottish Sun which also stated that rivals Celtic were also interested in his services during the January transfer window.
The German Under-21 international is presently valued at around €4.50mil, which makes his release clause a bargain fee for prospective clubs like Rangers, who are said to have opened talks with his parent club according to TZ via sport.sky.de.
The report claims that Steven Gerrard has a strong interest in Dorsch who is valued highly in Scotland with Hamburger SV also keeping a close eye on developments of the young midfielder who already has one goal and three assists to his name despite featuring at the base of the midfield for Heidenheim.
Dorsch is a very talented and promising young defensive midfielder who is tipped to become a national team star in the future, despite the stiff competition for places in the national team. So far, he has averaged 2.9 tackles, 1 interception and 0.3 blocks per game this season, whilst maintaining a staggering 88.9% pass success rate according to WhoScored.com.
As mentioned earlier, he was previously linked with a move to Celtic as well but that came unhinged when he refused to move away in the middle of the season amidst working on helping his team secure promotion to Bundesliga. However, he had reiterated his intentions of playing in a top league saying:
“At the moment, I just want to be successful with Heidenheim. We do outstanding work there, have a great environment and are strong in the league. We are realistic, but we have a good chance of promotion.
I have high expectations. My aim is to play in a top-class league
And I have time to decide. This won’t be an issue for me until the end of the season.”
While Rangers do have sufficient midfield options at the moment, Niklas Dorsch could simply add another dimension to their game that the likes of Joe Aribo and Glen Kamara have not been able to do so far. If their domestic form in 2020 is anything to go by, Rangers have a lot of work to do with their team and adding a player with high tenacity, combativeness, and freshness to the squad will certainly go a long way at rejuvenating their present side.