Rangers sell Goldson to Aris Limassol

Long-serving centre-half Connor Goldson has left Rangers to join Cypriot club Aris Limassol for an undisclosed fee.

The 31-year-old Englishman, who has signed a three-year contract with Aris, spent six years at Ibrox after leaving Brighton & Hove Albion.

Recruited by then manager Steven Gerrard, he went on to play more than 300 games for the Scottish Premiership club.

Goldson was an integral part of Rangers’ 2020-21 Scottish title win, during which they did not lose a game and conceded only 10 goals over 38 matches.

He also played a key role in the side’s journey to the 2021-22 Europa League final before winning a Scottish Cup and League Cup with Rangers.

However, he missed the concluding seven games of last season and Philippe Clement had confirmed that the centre-back missed last week’s friendly with Birmingham City following a “concrete offer” for the long-serving defender.

Aleksey Shpilevsky’s Aris, who were defending champions, missed out on European football this term despite finishing second to APOEL Nicosia in the regular season, finishing fourth after the title play-off round.

Swedish centre-half Franz Brorsson left Aris this summer to join Athens club Atromitos in the Greek Super League.

Goldson becomes the sixth long-serving player to exit Rangers this summer, with Croatia left-back Borna Barisic and midfielder John Lundstram both having joined Trabzonspor, while Scotland midfielder Ryan Jack, striker Kemar Roofe and goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin are seeking new clubs.

Two 20-year-olds – centre-half Clinton Nsiala, formerly AC Milan, and left-back Jefte, bought from Fluminese – are so far the only summer additions to Clement’s defence.