Rangers have been linked with a potential transfer for Millwall defender Jake Cooper, according to a report from The 4th Official on Patreon.

Cooper is entering the final year of his current contract with the Lions. They are intent on secure a new deal for the 28-year-old, but his head could be turned by attention elsewhere.

Will Jake Cooper be an improvement over the Light Blues’ current options at centre-back?

In Rangers’ most recent Scottish Premiership game, where they defeated Livingston by a score of 4-0, they deployed Leon Balogun and John Souttar as their centre-back partnership.

While Livi offered little threat over the course of 90 minutes, the two did their jobs admirably – the Gers showed few weaknesses from a defensive standpoint.

As such, Rangers do not have a lack of quality in the centre-half role – but this doesn’t mean that the acquisition of Cooper is not without a point.

At 6ft 7, Cooper is a monolith at the back. Virtually unbeatable in the air, he is also very vocal and has brilliant defensive organisational skills.

He has been holding Millwall’s backline together since 2017. With this being said, he isn’t the quickest defender in the world – nor is he particularly technically proficient.

As such, should Michael Beale decide to take the plunge with Cooper, it will speak volumes as to what brand of football he wants to play this season – you are not going to play out from the back with someone like Cooper in your team.

Do Rangers need another centre-back?

As things stand, Rangers currently have five centre-halves in their first-team squad – Leon Balogun, John Souttar, Connor Goldson, Ben Davies and Leon King.

Due to this, the Light Blues are not in desperate need of another – but likewise, it would not hurt to have another quality option in this position.

However, we would suggest that Rangers already have enough defenders in Cooper’s mold. Instead, we feel they would be better off investing in a ball-playing defender, rather than another cumbersome, lumbering giant.

Even if Beale has no plans to play progressively out from the back, it would simply give Rangers more options when moving the ball around – and in turn, make them less one-dimensional.