Aluko says he’s paying £200k for dream Ibrox move
Rangers new boy Sone Aluko says he’s paying £200k for dream Ibrox move
Sone Aluko last night clinched his dream move to Rangers after agreeing to pay Aberdeen almost £200,000 out of his own pocket over the next two and a half years.
The 22-year-old winger penned an initial six-month deal with the SPL champions yesterday and now hopes to use the rest of the season to trigger a further two-year contract.
But Aluko’s advisers then revealed how the Nigerian and his parents had to scramble together a lump sum of more than £50,000 to pay off his former Pittodrie bosses and stop them from blocking the move in a legal row over compensation they claim they are due.
As part of the astonishing agreement, Aluko – who knocked back an 11th-hour offer from Championship side Watford – has also agreed to stump up around a further £150,000 in monthly instalments straight out of his Rangers pay packet.
And speaking in a stunning exclusive interview with Record Sport last night, the youngster said: “The way I see it is what I have done here is invest in my own future.
“If this move works out the way I hope it will then I will go on to have a very good career and I’ll make the money back somewhere along the line.
“I did have other offers and I could have chosen a more comfortable way of doing things. I could have gone done a more normal route.
“But this is Rangers. It’s a huge club, on a huge stage and the chance may never have come around again.
“I wouldn’t have made these kind of sacrifices for just any club.
“However, this club will give me the chance to show what I can do.
“You could say that I have taken a gamble on myself here.
“But I know it’s a good gamble and even now, so soon after signing, I have a really good feeling about it. I already know that I have done the right thing.”
Aluko and his camp had considered mounting a legal challenge to fight former club Aberdeen’s claim that they were owed a bumper pay out for contributing to his development.
But the player feared any delay in the courtroom might scupper his chances of sealing a deal with Ally McCoist’s side.
It’s also understood that Watford were actually willing to meet Aberdeen’s cash demands in full.
However, Aluko turned the English side down flat and instead set about rasing the cash he needed to buy his way into Ibrox.
The unprecedented deal was then thrashed out late on Wednesday night before Aluko hopped into a car to complete a gruelling 600-mile round trip.
He drove to his Midlands home to pick up belongings then returned to Glasgow yesterday at lunchtime to undergo a medical and sign on the dotted line.
Last night his adviser Alan Love said: “Rangers have not parted with a coin.
“Sone and his family have put money up and, as the agents, we also put our commission into the pot. Morally, we could not do anything else.
“A proportion of the fee has been paid up front and the rest will come out of Sone’s wages and appearance money over the next two years. It tells you something about this boy’s dedication and desire to succeed.
“He has paid his ticket to go to Rangers. I can’t think of any other player in this day and age who would have made this kind of sacrifice. But it’s not about money – it’s all about his career.”
Aluko started his career with Birmingham before moving north to Pittodrie in a £50,000 deal in 2008.
The winger left in the summer when his contract expired but the Dons believed they were due a fee from his next team for helping to develop the player.
And the Pittodrie club yesterday said the terms agreed with Gers involved the “receipt of training compensation, potential contingent payments and a sell-on clause”.
Chief executive Duncan Fraser told the club’s website: “The club has been adamant that the principles under which an agreement could be reached involved the recognition of our right to training compensation and that we would only deal with another club directly.
“Once Rangers had decided that they would make a contract offer, we were then able to agree a mutually acceptable position.”
