Rangers are closing in on the signing of James Penrice from AEK Athens, with the move now understood to be at an advanced stage. The 27-year-old has been the subject of transfer speculation linking him with a return to Ibrox for several months, and that pursuit now appears to be reaching its conclusion.
Penrice’s football journey has taken him away from Scotland over the past year. He left Scottish football last summer, departing Hearts to join Greek club AEK Athens. That timing means current Rangers manager Derek McInnes never actually worked with him during his own spell in charge at Tynecastle — the two crossed paths at the same club, but not at the same time. That’s set to change now, with Penrice poised to link up with McInnes for the first time at Ibrox instead.
The move would represent further reinforcement of Rangers’ defence this summer. The club has already strengthened its right-back options by bringing in Ross McCrorie, and Penrice’s arrival would give McInnes a recognised option on the opposite flank — potentially even in time to make his first appearance for the club this coming weekend.mmm
According to a report from Sky Sports published on Saturday morning, Penrice has now completed his medical examination as part of the move to Rangers. That process is understood to have taken place on Thursday, meaning that particular stage of the transfer has already been dealt with. With the medical out of the way, attention has now turned to finalising the remaining paperwork required to formally complete the deal ahead of Rangers’ League Cup tie against St Mirren on Sunday.
Should everything be wrapped up in time, Penrice could be available to make his Rangers debut in that fixture at Ibrox. Reports suggest the structure of the deal will see Penrice arrive on an initial season-long loan, with an option included for Rangers to sign him permanently at a later date — a structure that would allow the club to assess him over a longer period before committing to a permanent transfer.
Beyond the mechanics of the transfer itself, there’s a genuine tactical question surrounding how Penrice might be used once he’s available for selection. Since taking charge, McInnes has shown a willingness to switch between different defensive setups, alternating between a back four and a back three depending on the game. Notably, Rangers’ last two matches — against Hibernian and then Jagiellonia in the Europa League — both saw the team set up in a back three with wing-backs providing the width down each flank.
That system raises a question mark over how naturally Penrice might slot in. By trade, he is a left-back rather than a wing-back, and his career to date has almost exclusively been spent in that more conventional defensive role. That was true during his time in Greece with AEK Athens, and it was also the case during his single season with Hearts in the 2024-25 campaign. Given that background, it’s reasonable to expect he may need a period of adjustment if McInnes wants to deploy him higher up the pitch as part of a wing-back system, rather than in a more orthodox left-back role.
That said, there are encouraging signs that Penrice has more attacking quality than a purely defensive full-back profile might suggest. During his time at Hearts, he contributed two goals and seven assists across the season — numbers that point to a player capable of making a genuine impact in the final third, not just defending his flank. His underlying data from his time in Greece backs this up further. Statistics from FotMob show that, during the 2025-26 season, Penrice ranked in the top 6.2 percentile of all left-backs in the Greek Super League for successful crosses per game, and in the top 7.8 percentile for chances created per game.
Taken together, that attacking output suggests that while Penrice may not have extensive experience specifically playing as a wing-back, he already possesses several of the key attributes — end product, crossing ability, and a knack for creating chances — that the role demands. On that basis, there’s a reasonable case that he shouldn’t face major difficulty adapting to a more advanced role if McInnes does ask him to operate as a wing-back at Ibrox, even if his positional experience to date has been in a more traditional full-back capacity.
With the medical complete and paperwork now being finalised, Rangers fans could see Penrice handed his first involvement for the club as early as this weekend’s League Cup clash with St Mirren, giving McInnes another option as he continues to experiment with how best to set up his new-look squad.