Youssef Chermiti Faces Long Recovery After Serious Knee Injury

Youssef Chermiti is facing a long road back after suffering serious knee damage, just days after Rangers rebuffed interest in their record signing.

The 22-year-old Portuguese striker sustained anterior cruciate ligament damage in Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat to Hibernian, crashing into the advertising boards after a heavy challenge. The impact silenced Ibrox. The diagnosis has now underlined those fears.

Rangers confirmed via social media that Chermiti “will be out of action for a significant period of time”, a stark line that hints at months rather than weeks on the sidelines.

The timing could hardly be crueller. Chermiti only arrived from Everton in September 2025, becoming, reportedly, the club’s most expensive signing since Tore Andre Flo’s headline move in 2000. He had begun to justify the outlay too: 43 appearances, 30 starts, 15 goals. Numbers that suggested a centre forward growing into the jersey and into the demands of Glasgow.

His form had not gone unnoticed. Before kick-off against Hibs, Derek McInnes addressed reports that Turkish champions Galatasaray had made a move for the striker. The Rangers manager was clear: the bid did not match the club’s valuation.

“I’m led to believe the club’s valuation of the player hasn’t been met,” he told BBC Scotland, underlining both the size of the price tag and the club’s stance.

Chermiti, capped at under-21 level by Portugal, has been viewed internally as a cornerstone of the rebuild. McInnes framed him exactly that way.

“He’s a player who’s got a big (price) tag on him and he’s got high potential, but thankfully he’s our player and that will continue to be the case,” the manager said, stressing that Rangers are trying to assemble a squad around talents like the young forward, not cash in on them.

“We’re trying to build a team here at the minute and we’re trying to still bring additions to the team that helps us add to the good players that we’ve got, including Youssef. So it’s not something we would encourage at any point.”

Now that plan has been jolted. The club must navigate a significant spell without the man they were so adamant about keeping, while Chermiti begins the painstaking process of recovery from one of football’s most feared injuries.

Rangers turned away Galatasaray and kept their striker. The next challenge is far tougher: making sure that, when he returns, he is still the player they were so determined not to lose.