New Rangers signing Sone Aluko reveals transfer cost him £200,000

Personal transfer fee

Sone Aluko has revealed that he, his friends and family had to stump up £200,000 to complete his move to Rangers. The 22-year-old’s transfer was on the verge of collapse when the champions refused to stump up the compensation being demanded by his former club Aberdeen.

According to the Daily Record:

Faced with the prospect of being priced out of the move he believes will turn his career around, Aluko and his parents managed to muster a lump sum of around £50,000 to stop the winger’s former club Aberdeen from pulling the plug late on Wednesday night.

Aluko’s advisers then waived their right to a hefty slice of commission, which would have been due to them from Rangers once their client had signed his initial six-month deal yesterday afternoon. That money will also be posted to Pittodrie today.

The player, meanwhile, has undertaken to pay up the balance over the next two-and-a-half years with monthly instalments from his Ibrox wages.

You can hardly accuse Rangers of taking a punt on the young striker! Aluko, by contrast, acknowledges that he has made the biggest gamble of his life.

He said: “Sometimes in life you have to make sacrifices.

“I have no problem with that. I have been out of football for four months and suddenly I was presented with the chance to start all over at a club like this. You can’t let such an opportunity pass by.

“I quickly realised that, if this was what I wanted, then I would have to go out of my way to make it happen.

“No one else was going to help me so I had to do it for myself.

“I could have waited and challenged Aberdeen through the courts. I could have gone down the legal route or taken it to a tribunal and fought my cause there.

“And I believe we would have won because I had a very strong case.

“The bottom line is I came through the youth system at Birmingham. Aberdeen bought me and put me straight into their side. I made my debut in the UEFA Cup. I’m sure I would have won the case.

“But that could have taken weeks to sort out, possibly months. By the time it was sorted this chance might have gone and all I want to do is play football. I’m fed up waiting around.”

He reckons that around 10 of those closest to him have put their own finances on the line to make his dream move happen.

Do you reckon we’ll be seeing Carlos Tevez doing something similar in the near future? Thought not.