Rangers tracked Man City youngster 'all summer' before move fell apart and EFL side swooped in

Rangers tracked Manchester City youngster Jadel Katongo all summer but the move fell apart right at the end of the window, according to an insider.

The centre-back, who can also play on the right of the defence, ended up joining Peterborough on loan in England's League One and their owner Darragh MacAnthony has been talking on the process they had to go through to land their man. The Posh were very keen on the player but were of the belief he was heading up to Scotland.

However, the day before last Friday's deadline it became clear that deal was off and they could make their move. United then jumped in and took the 19-year-old on loan for the rest of the season as they try to push for promotion back up to the Championship.

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The Irishman told the Hard Truth podcast: "I worked on the Jadel deal the day before (the transfer deadline) in the UAE. We’d loved Jadel all summer, but we got told all summer that he was going to go to Scotland. I think it was Rangers he was potentially going to.

“(But we) got a call from Jadel the day before saying that the Scotland move was off. Man City then came to us and said; ‘Look, let’s try and work something out’. So I approved the deal the night before, and then it was just a race against time getting him down on the day.”

It is not the only loan deal the Ibrox men missed out on. They looked set to get winger Samuel Edozie from Southampton for the season but that one fell apart too. Rangers did sign defender Neraysho Kasanwirjo on loan from Feyenoord and winger Nedim Bajrami on a permanent deal from Sassuolo on deadline day.