Upward path for Penrice has McInnes eager for Rangers deal

Published2 hours ago

It's been a very good few days for James Penrice, with a first Scotland call-up following on from a first senior semi-final victory, so it is little wonder manager Derek McInnes is so keen to keep him at Rangers.

The 27-year-old started like a train at Ibrox and has just kept going.

A day after signing on loan from AEK Athens, in his first outing of the season, the left-back turned in a player-of-the-match display, scoring and providing an assist in the 5-1 demolition of St Mirren.

It was Rangers' first win of the campaign after Europa League elimination and a tally of one point from their opening two games in the Scottish Premiership.

McInnes' side have not lost a domestic match since, stretching that run to 12 on Saturday as Penrice set up the only goal against Aberdeen at Hampden.

With his low shot turned home by Ryan Naderi, Rangers go into December's League Cup final against Hibernian looking for their first silverware since 2023. Penrice will hope to add to an unlikely medal set of Scottish League One and the Greek Super League.

AEK Athens paid £2m for the former Partick Thistle and Livingston defender in July 2025 after one stand-out year with Heart of Midlothian.

In Greece, he played 32 times for the side who secured their 14th national title. Sixteen of those appearances were starts as he alternated with Albania international Stavros Pilios.

The loan to Rangers includes an option to buy and reports from Athens suggest AEK would like to renegotiate given the impact Penrice has made.

Other reports have the fee agreed over the summer at a combined £1.2m, which looks like a steal.

"I've made my feelings clear on it," McInnes said. "Ideally, we'd like to have done it on a permanent, but the best way forward at the time was a loan.

"I think we are all aware of what it needs to be to make it permanent, but I think there is a lot of goodwill all round and that is something we would like to do."

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Add versatility to 'quality and energy'

McInnes sprang a surprise on Celtic by using Penrice in midfield for their League Cup meeting at Ibrox. The tactic worked a treat as Rangers romped to a 3-0 win.

He snuffed out the threat of Benjamin Nygren and moved wide in transition to great effect as the visitors were overwhelmed.

The same starting XI earned a 1-0 victory at Celtic Park a week later.

"What he's done since the first minute is just play with so much enthusiasm," McInnes said.

"He brings quality and energy. The fans take to him because of how he performs and how much he wants to win.

"He's a player that I trust and the supporters trust, so hopefully we can make it a longer-term thing."

'Scotland call no surprise'

A relatively late bloomer, Penrice spoke of his pride and a "weird feeling" to RangersTV after being named in the Scotland squad for this month's Nations League double-header against North Macedonia and Switzerland.

"I didn't ever think going through the early part of my career, I would ever be called up," he said.

McInnes shared his delight in the recognition while stressing it comes as "no real surprise" given current form. Scotland head coach Sebastien Pocognoli echoed those thoughts, describing the selection as "logical".

Scotland skipper Andy Robertson will overtake Sir Kenny Dalglish's record of 102 caps if he plays in both games, so an uncapped left-back might have to be patient.

Then we have Kieran Tierney on 58 caps and Josh Doig embarking on his fourth Serie A campaign, so competition in that area is stiff.

"James deserves it and hopefully he can get on the pitch and come back with a couple of caps," McInnes added.

"The thing that screams out of James is hunger. He's driven himself to get to where he is now. He plays with hunger and he trains with hunger.

"I don't think anybody should ever underestimate working with hungry players.

"As soon as you become too comfortable, you become complacent, for me. And I think that there is a real hunger there to establish himself here. He wants to be here."

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• Published18 June 2023

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Published18 June 2023