Rangers manager wants loan signing James Penrice to stay for good
Rangers manager Derek McInnes wants James Penrice to stay at Ibrox permanently, and the winger's first few months have given him plenty of reasons to.
Penrice joined Rangers from AEK Athens on a season-long loan in August. A loan means he plays for Rangers for a set period while still belonging to AEK. The deal includes an option to buy, which lets Rangers make the move permanent at an agreed price. BBC Sport reports that McInnes said Rangers would ideally have signed him permanently at the start, but a loan was the best route at the time.
The BBC puts the combined agreed fee for a permanent transfer at £1.2m. Yahoo Sports reports that Rangers will pay £800,000 to sign him permanently.
Penrice has been a travelling professional. He started out at Partick Thistle, then played for Livingston and Heart of Midlothian. AEK Athens paid £2m for him in July 2025. He made 32 appearances for the Greek club, 16 of them starts, during a season when they won their 14th national title.
His Rangers debut came the day after he signed. He scored and set up another goal in a 5-1 win over St Mirren, who were holders of the Premier Sports Cup. A goal and an assist on your first day is the kind of start that makes a manager sit up.
He has kept building on it. McInnes played him in midfield, the central area of the pitch, in a 3-0 League Cup win over Celtic at Ibrox. Later he set up the only goal in a win over Aberdeen at Hampden, which stretched Rangers' unbeaten domestic run to 12 matches. Rangers will meet Hibernian in the League Cup final in December.
There is international news too. Penrice has been called up by Scotland for the first time, for a Nations League double-header against North Macedonia and Switzerland. The Nations League is a competition between national teams that runs alongside friendlies and qualifying games, and a double-header means two matches in one window.
The same squad could see Scotland captain Andy Robertson make history. If he plays in both games, he will overtake Kenny Dalglish's record of 102 caps. A cap is the term for each appearance for a national team.
For Rangers, the question now is whether the option to buy becomes a permanent contract. For Penrice, the question is whether a debut goal and assist can turn into a longer stay. So far, both the club and the player seem happy with the answer.
