The Ibrox club has registered an interest in the 22-year-old, who plies his trade in the Dutch Eredivisie.
Couhaib Driouech has surfaced as Rangers’ latest summer target, but reports say the winger is presently leaning towards a move to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven following an outstanding season in the Eredivisie.
The Moroccan Under-23 international is the second player from the North African country to be linked with a move to Ibrox, with the Light Blues reportedly close to signing Driouech’s compatriot Hamza Igamane from FAR Rabat.
Driouech, who scored eight goals and eight assists last season, has been playing for Excelsior Rotterdam in the Netherlands, but his future appears to be uncertain following the club’s relegation to the second tier, despite the fact that he is under contract until next summer. According to Dutch TV broadcaster Mounir Boualin, the Ibrox club has expressed a “interest” in the 22-year-old wide man.
PSV attempted to buy Driouech for roughly €2 million (£1.7 million) in January, but his parent club rejected their offer. They are still ‘in the race’, and he appears to be on his way after reports that Excelsior are willing to trade him. In addition to Rangers, Sporting Lisbon of Portugal, Royal Antwerp of Belgium, and RC Lens of France are also interested in signing him. However, Dutch football analyst Rik Elfrink claims the Heerenveen academy product still has his sights set on the Gers’ Champions League opponents. He informed Eindhovens Dagblad.
“PSV has been interested in signing Couhaib Driouech for weeks, but has not yet reached an agreement with his current club Excelsior. His preference is PSV, although other clubs are also interested.
“PSV is trying to sign Driouech for more than two million euros. But Excelsior wants more. PSV technical director Earnest Stewart is not in a huge hurry. PSV will start preparations for the new season next week and would like to have Driouech on board, but the first official match of the new season is not until August 4.
“It is not known how far apart Excelsior and PSV are. A few weeks ago it seemed to be around 1 to 1.5 million euros. PSV has informed the club that it does not intend to pay what is Driouech was bid on in the winter. This is partly due to his contract situation: Driouech’s contract expires in mid-2025 and so Excelsior must sell him this summer to be able to collect a reasonable price.”
Driouech was previously labelled “so explosive” by his former Excelsior boss Marinus Dijkhuizen and is likely to feature alongside Igamane for Morocco at the Olympics in Paris this summer.