Rangers are set to spend £3.4 million on South African centre-back Olwethu Makhanya, with The Athletic reporting a deal with Philadelphia Union is nearly done. Philadelphia have also secured a sell-on clause — smart business from a club that knows what they've got.
At 22, Makhanya is the profile Derek McInnes has been hunting all window: young, physically imposing, and already battle-tested in a competitive league. His aerial duel success rate of 67% stands out immediately. That's not a fluke number — it suggests a defender who can dominate penalty box situations, which matters enormously in the physical Scottish game.
What the stats actually say
The MLS numbers flesh out the picture. Across his 13 appearances this season, Makhanya averaged 2.3 tackles, 6.5 ball recoveries, and 4.6 clearances per 90 minutes. He's a high-volume defender — always in the action, always cleaning up. His 1.2 interceptions per 90 isn't elite, but combined with everything else, it paints a picture of a centre-back who works hard and reads the game reasonably well for his age.
His 2025 MLS campaign was the foundation of this interest. He played a key role as Philadelphia won the Supporters' Shield with the best regular-season record in the league. This season has been rougher — the Union entered the World Cup break bottom of the standings and lost their head coach — but that context might actually have accelerated the move. Makhanya was probably keen to get out before things deteriorated further.
McInnes needs this to work
Rangers fell short last season, and the gap to Celtic is the central problem McInnes was hired to fix. Defensive solidity is where that gap has shown most brutally — last season's title implosion wasn't built on bad forwards. Patching the backline is non-negotiable.
Makhanya was named in South Africa's World Cup squad but didn't get off the bench in any of their four matches, and his senior international record amounts to a single friendly cap against Nicaragua. That tells you something about his ceiling — or at least where the ceiling currently sits. He has a lot to prove at European level.
- Fee: approximately £3.4 million
- Age: 22
- 2026 MLS appearances: 13
- Aerial duel success rate: 67%
- International caps: 1 (friendly vs Nicaragua)
Rangers' defensive odds heading into next season just got a little more interesting. Whether Makhanya is the answer or just the first piece of the puzzle, McInnes isn't waiting around to find out.
