James Penrice Joins Rangers After Celtic Cool Their Interest

James Penrice joined Rangers from AEK Athens on 15 August on a season-long loan with a buy option, after Celtic’s July enquiry went cold. The 27-year-old left-back had been sold as Parkhead’s opening. He walked into Ibrox instead.

Greek briefings that week had Rangers nowhere near a deal and Celtic holding a small window. Penrice later said Ibrox was the only place he wanted. Celtic ended the window with Chelsea teenager Landon Emenalo.

A Season-Long Loan Ends the Celtic Rumour

Rangers posted the deal on 15 August: a season-long loan with an option to buy, subject to international clearance. Transfer correspondent Ben Jacobs put that option at €2 million. Fabrizio Romano had the medical booked for 14 August, two days before the club statement.

https://x.com/RangersFC/status/2088657216236564539

THE IBROX DEAL

• The contract: Season-long loan from AEK Athens, with an option to buy.
• The option: Jacobs put the buy clause at €2 million.
• The player: 27, more than 300 senior club appearances, 32 games for Greek champions AEK last season.
• The gap: Tuur Rommens was out with a groin injury for up to seven weeks.

Manager Derek McInnes said Penrice would bolster a position where Rangers were “a little light” and give him competition. The next fixture was a League Cup tie at home to St Mirren on 16 August. Penrice started, scored, and later talked about dragging teammates with him rather than arriving quiet.

It’s a bit surreal. It’s been a long time since I came through the building here as a youth player, but I’m delighted to finally get it done. It’s somewhere where at the start of my career I could only have dreamt of coming to play. There’s only one objective and that’s to win stuff. When you don’t, there comes pressure. I’m fully aware of what is expected here.

James Penrice, Rangers signing interview, Rangers FC

He had a brief spell in the Rangers youth setup before the Partick Thistle path that made him. That is why “surreal” was the word he reached for, not a press-officer line about a fresh start.

Celtic Enquired, Then Let the Trail Go Cold

On 21 July, Jacobs said Celtic had asked AEK about Penrice as cover for Kieran Tierney. Marcelo Saracchi, the Boca Juniors full-back who had played 27 times on loan at Parkhead, had already ruled out a return. Martin O’Neill was short of a specialist deputy, unless Liam Scales shifted from centre-back.

Celtic’s July enquiry for Penrice was real contact, not a phantom list. Four days later the same correspondent said Parkhead had not followed it up and was not expected to make a move. The trail died in public before August even started.

THE SUMMER CLOCK

1. 5 July 2025: Leaves Hearts for AEK Athens in a deal worth about £2 million, with a sell-on clause.
2. January 2026: AEK rejects a Rangers offer. Penrice later says the move was close.
3. 21 July 2026: Celtic enquire about him as Tierney cover after Saracchi walks.
4. 8 August 2026: Boca Juniors confirm Saracchi’s permanent move to Houston Dynamo.
5. 13 to 15 August 2026: Rangers agree the loan, book the medical, and announce the signing.
6. 2 September 2026: Celtic sign Landon Emenalo on loan from Chelsea.
7. 3 September 2026: The Scottish window shuts at 5pm.

By the time O’Neill was answering questions about Emenalo on 14 August, Penrice was in for his Rangers medical. Celtic had moved on in public without ever putting a bid on the table for the Scot they had already watched at Hearts.

Why James Penrice Pushed for Ibrox

Because he said so, more than once, and because January had already shown the direction of travel. After the signing he said a Rangers move had been close in the winter window, that he was upset when it collapsed, and that when a sniff returned in the summer it was all he wanted. He thanked AEK for facilitating the loan. He also said he pushed like mad.

That sits badly next to the July briefing from Greek football insider Antonis Oikonomides, who told Sport 24’s Box2Box show that Rangers were a constant name in the chatter and still not a live suitor.

The player’s side denies it, maintaining that there is absolutely nothing with Rangers. What is clear is that Rangers are not interested. There is an open door, a small window of opportunity for Celtic. Let me remind you that Celtic wanted him before he came to AEK from Hearts.

Antonis Oikonomides, Greek football insider, Sport 24 Box2Box

Oikonomides was describing the temperature in late July. He was not describing the player’s preference. Penrice’s own account is that Ibrox was the destination, and that AEK, once asked, helped him get there. Rangers’ urgency rose when Rommens’s groin injury opened a hole McInnes already wanted filled.

The knock waiting for him in Glasgow was the AEK usage. He made 32 appearances in the title season and started 16. Sceptics used that split to paint him as a squad full-back being sold as a starter. Scoring on his St Mirren debut did not settle a season, but it did mean he was not eased in as a luxury spare part.

McInnes is the other thread. As Hearts manager in July 2025 he called the AEK sale brilliant money and a great chance for the player. Thirteen months later he was welcoming the same man to Ibrox, talking about Premiership know-how and hunger. Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin had already made that Tynecastle-to-Govan trip this summer. Penrice made it the loud one.

The Boca Deal Celtic Would Not Make Permanent

Saracchi wanted Glasgow on a proper contract. Boca wanted him sold. Celtic wanted another loan. Those three positions never met. Agent Marcelo Tejera said the first thing that had to happen was the club’s chief executive telling him they wanted the player, and that never happened. Celtic never lodged an official written offer. Saracchi went public that he was gutted, then Boca confirmed a permanent transfer to Houston Dynamo on 8 August.

He had been a useful deputy, 27 appearances, including the late title run-in. He also said the rotation with Tierney cost him minutes, and that Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa cited that when he left him out of the World Cup squad. A second loan was never going to fix that for him. Celtic still would not buy.

LEFT-BACKS CELTIC TOUCHED

Ferry was the domestic alternative once Penrice was gone. Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin said the club had accepted a considerable offer, then the player and his representatives walked away. Goodwin was delighted to keep him for the season. United are holding for a seven-figure fee on a man out of contract at the end of it. Celtic admired him. They did not buy him either.

Landon Emenalo Fills the Hole From Stamford Bridge

On 2 September Celtic announced that Emenalo had joined Celtic on a season loan from Chelsea. He is 18. Chelsea’s own note called him comfortable in defence and midfield, a regular for the Under-21s, and part of the side that finished top of Premier League 2. He featured for Xabi Alonso’s seniors in pre-season against Western Sydney Wanderers. He has no competitive senior Chelsea appearance.

O’Neill had already flagged him in mid-August, while calling the left-back slot a position that needed covering because of Tierney. He also said the teenager was carrying an injury and that Celtic hoped it would clear. By early September, Chris Sutton was calling the loan a gamble: an 18-year-old with no senior Chelsea minutes, still sore, asked to be the main backup in a side that often needs Tierney replaced before the end of matches.

WHAT CELTIC ACTUALLY ADDED

• The profile: Quick, athletic, composed on the ball, defends and attacks, in O’Neill’s words, and signed to give strong competition on the left side.
• The age: 18, academy at Chelsea from the age of seven, with a spell at Monaco in between.
• The other options: Jordan Lotomba arrived on loan from Feyenoord and can play left-back; Scales had already filled in.
• The miss: Greg Taylor, now at PAOK, was named by Sutton as an obvious home option Celtic did not take.

Emenalo’s own first words were about the size of the club and the demand to win. That is the brief. It is also a different brief from signing a 27-year-old who had just won a league in Greece and already knew the Scottish tempo. Celtic’s confirmed summer arrivals on the SPFL list show how late the left-back call sat: Emenalo is there among the loans, next to Sam Johnstone, Lotomba, Shumaira Mheuka and Oliver Sorensen, after the club had already spent on Kasper Høgh, Camilo Duran and Haissem Hassan.

Tynecastle’s £2m Sale Still Carries a Sell-On

Hearts confirmed the Athens move on 5 July 2025. The fee was undisclosed. Scottish figures at the time put it at about £2 million, with a sell-on on any future transfer. Penrice had joined Tynecastle on a free from Livingston in June 2024 and, in one season, put up 46 appearances and two goals, plus both club player-of-the-year awards and a place in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year.

PENRICE’S ROUTE TO IBROX

• Partick Thistle: Youth graduate, senior debut at 17, then loans at East Fife and Livingston.
• Livingston: Permanent in 2021, three years, just under a century of appearances.
• Hearts: One season, 2024/25, both player-of-the-year awards, then the AEK sale.
• AEK Athens: Title in 2025/26, 32 appearances, 16 starts, contract running to 30 June 2028.
• Rangers: Season loan, option to buy, announced 15 August 2026.

If Rangers take the option, Hearts collect again on the sell-on. If they do not, Penrice returns to a club still contracted to him until 2028. AEK keep the registration either way. That is why a loan was the clean exit from a summer in which the Greek champions could claim they were not dumping a title-winning full-back, only parking him where he wanted to play.

Celtic Park hosts Rangers on 20 September. Penrice will be in the visiting party if McInnes keeps trusting him the way he did from the first weekend. The club that had him on a list will be on the other touchline, with an 18-year-old loanee still being brought up to speed behind Tierney.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Is James Penrice?

James Regan Penrice was born on 22 December 1998 and came through Partick Thistle, with loans at East Fife and Livingston, before a permanent Livingston move in 2021. He is a left-back with more than 300 senior club appearances, a PFA Scotland Team of the Year nod for 2024/25, and a Super League Greece winner’s medal from AEK’s 14th title, won ahead of Olympiacos.

What Are the Terms of James Penrice’s Rangers Deal?

It is a season-long loan from AEK Athens with an option to buy, which Ben Jacobs put at €2 million. AEK still hold his registration on a contract through 30 June 2028, so if Rangers decline the option he goes back to Athens rather than becoming a free agent.

Did Celtic Make an Offer for James Penrice?

There was an enquiry to AEK on 21 July, reported by Ben Jacobs, and no public follow-up bid. Jacobs said by 25 July that Celtic were not expected to step it up. O’Neill was instead talking about Emenalo on 14 August, the same day Penrice’s Rangers medical was booked.

Who Did Celtic Sign at Left-Back Instead?

Landon Cruz Buzi Emenalo, an 18-year-old Chelsea academy player who has represented England and the United States at youth level, joined on a season loan on 2 September. Chelsea used him in defence and midfield. Jordan Lotomba, signed on loan from Feyenoord, is the other new full-back who can cover the same side.

When Did the Scottish Transfer Window Close in 2026?

It shut at 5pm on Thursday 3 September, two days after the English window closed on 1 September. The winter window is listed to open on 5 January and close at 5pm on 4 February, which is the next date a club could try to reopen a left-back deal.