James Penrice: Upward path has Derek McInnes eager for Rangers deal

It’s been a very good few days for James Penrice, with a first Scotland call-up following on from a first senior semi-final victory, so it is little wonder manager Derek McInnes is so keen to keep him at Rangers.

The 27-year-old started like a train at Ibrox and has just kept going.

A day after signing on loan from AEK Athens, in his first outing of the season, the left-back turned in a player-of-the-match display, scoring and providing an assist in the 5-1 demolition of St Mirren.

It was Rangers’ first win of the campaign after Europa League elimination and a tally of one point from their opening two games in the Scottish Premiership.

McInnes’ side have not lost a domestic match since, stretching that run to 12 on Saturday as Penrice set up the only goal against Aberdeen at Hampden.

With his low shot turned home by Ryan Naderi, Rangers go into December’s League Cup final against Hibernian looking for their first silverware since 2023. Penrice will hope to add to an unlikely medal set of Scottish League One and the Greek Super League.

AEK Athens paid £2m for the former Partick Thistle and Livingston defender in July 2025 after one stand-out year with Heart of Midlothian.

In Greece, he played 32 times for the side who secured their 14th national title. Sixteen of those appearances were starts as he alternated with Albania international Stavros Pilios.

The loan to Rangers includes an option to buy and reports from Athens suggest AEK would like to renegotiate given the impact Penrice has made.

Other reports have the fee agreed over the summer at a combined £1.2m, which looks like a steal.

“I’ve made my feelings clear on it,” McInnes said. “Ideally, we’d like to have done it on a permanent, but the best way forward at the time was a loan.

“I think we are all aware of what it needs to be to make it permanent, but I think there is a lot of goodwill all round and that is something we would like to do.”