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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Matthew Lindsay

Rangers look to bring £8m Aston Villa and Serbia defender to Ibrox on loan

Aston Villa right-back Kosta Nedeljkovic, left, in action for Serbia against England last year (Image: PA)

Rangers are weighing up a move to bring Kosta Nedeljkovic, the Aston Villa and Serbia right-back, to Ibrox on a season-long loan.

The 20-year-old defender, who Villa paid Red Star Belgrade £8m for in 2024, is unlikely to feature for the Europa League winners in the 2026/27 season.

He has spent the past two campaigns on loan at RB Leipzig in Germany – but he only made five appearances in the Bundesliga last term.

Nedeljkovic started for his Premier League outfit in their pre-season friendly against Indonesia All-Stars in Jakarta earlier this month and provided an assist for the opening goal during a 3-1 win.


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However, his manager Unai Emery has preferred Polish internationalist Matty Cash and England centre-half Ezri Konsa in his specialist position in the past.

Derek McInnes started Dujon Sterling at right-back in Rangers’ opening William Hill Premiership match against Dundee United at Tannadice and played Vanja Dragojevic there in the 2-1 defeat to Hibernian in Govan today.

He put on Ross McCrorie, the Scotland internationalist who the Glasgow club signed from Bristol City for £900,000 this summer, in both games.

Rangers manager Derek McInnes at Tannadice on Friday night (Image: PA)

McInnes has strengthened his squad with no fewer than nine new players this summer, but he is eager to make more signings as quickly as possible.

“We’ve got to improve in a lot of things," he has said. "The squad will improve as we go along through this month and the squad will look far stronger than we came into this window, with some new signings.


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“I know the evidence would suggest we’ve still got loads and loads to do and I get that, but I do think we have got enough to be encouraged about. But the new signings need to land pretty soon, I need to say that.

“Everybody’s worked hard to get the right players in and I appreciate the effort that’s been made, but we’ve got important games, important league games, important European games, and we’re just really trying to crank that up to try and get players in the building as quickly as possible.”

Nedeljkovic, a lightning-fast full-back who has won 11 caps for his country since making his debut against Spain in 2024, is highly regarded at Villa Park, but is very much seen as a player for the future by Emery.

Rangers have brought in Ivor Pandur, Vanja Dragojevic, Olwethu Makhanya, McCrorie, Dan Neil, Lawrence Shankland, Cammy Devlin and Daisuke Yokota - but McInnes is eager to increase his options further.

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