Kosta Nedeljkovic has joined Rangers on a season-long loan for £8 million, after a spell at Aston Villa and RB Leipzig. The 20-year-old full-back completed the move on Wednesday and made his debut as a late substitute, replacing Djeidi Gassama in the final moments of the 1-0 first-leg win over Jablonec in the Conference League playoffs at Ibrox.
Nedeljkovic said the first contact with Rangers came in April, and that the club’s communication was “consistent” every month and week thereafter. He chose the club because it is “such a big club” that “we will fight for the title” and “play football how I want to play - attacking with transitions.”
He added that his time at Aston Villa in January 2024, when he signed for £8 million from Red Star Belgrade, gave him 10 official games before moving to RB Leipzig on loan for six months, where he played every match. He admitted a knee injury at the start of the season at Leipzig kept him out for two and a half months.
“Rangers is a big club, I can progress here,” he said. “We can fight for the title, this is a big club.” He also expressed excitement about playing at Ibrox, describing the stadium as “one of the famous and popular stadiums in the world” and saying he was “very happy to make my debut for this amazing club.”
Regarding the departure of captain James Tavernier, Nedeljkovic said he does not feel the pressure to fill Tavernier’s boots. “Everyone knows James Tavernier so of course I watched Rangers before. I know he was here 10 years or more. I don’t feel the pressure because I just focus on myself, but how he played his style of football, I really like, so I want to dominate defensively, but also to have a lot of assists and goals. I want to be like him in the final third.”
The Serbian international also revealed that he sought advice from long-time friend and former Partizan Belgrade teammate Vanja Dragojevic, who joined Rangers earlier this summer. “I spoke already with Vanja because we know each other from Serbia,” he said. “He helped me to take this decision. We’ve known each other the last 10 years. In Serbia, we play on the opposite sides, but now when we are in Scotland, we are good friends.”
Nedeljkovic also mentioned a conversation with Scotland international John McGinn, a self-confessed Celtic fan, about Rangers, though he did not disclose the details of the discussion.
He made his debut as a late substitute replacing Djeidi Gassama in the 1-0 win over Jablonec, marking the beginning of his journey to potentially fill the void left by Tavernier’s departure this summer.
