Allow me to introduce you to Nedim Bajrami - a lad born on the 28th of February in 1999, which, if my calculations serve me correctly, would make him 26 years of age. To make matters even more intriguing, he hails from the exotic land of Macedonia. Now, don't let that throw you off; Bajrami is a midfielder with a particular fondness for the central attacking position. These days he finds himself gallivanting about at Rangers, donning the ominous number 14 jersey. At a height of 1.79m (roughly speaking 5ft 10in for those of us who like our measurements with a dash of imperial), and tipping the scales at 68kg (or 10st 9lb), he's certainly not the most imposing figure on the pitch, but we all know size isn't everything. His skills have even earned him a cap or two for the Albanian national team.
As befits a player of his stature, his current market value hovers around a respectable £3.4m. But of course, I didn't just pluck that figure out of thin air - I got it straight from the horse's mouth. Or, to be more precise, from Transfermarkt.
Let's take a wee stroll down memory lane, shall we? Way back in the distant year of 2009, our young hero was just a trainee at Grasshoppers in the Super League in Switzerland. Quite the leap from Macedonia, wouldn't you say? Over the course of three seasons, he clambered his way from a mere first team appearance to being a regular feature on the pitch, even notching up a few goals here and there.
Ever the wanderer, Bajrami jetted off to Empoli in Italy's Serie A in August 2019, swapping the Swiss mountains for the Italian pizza oven, all for the princely sum of about £430k. A full four seasons he spent there, with a commendable number of appearances and a modest, but not insignificant, handful of goals to boot.
But lo and behold, a spanner was thrown in the works. In January 2023, our Macedonian-turned-Albanian decided a change of scenery was in order and hopped on a train to Sassuolo in Serie B - albeit only on loan. Still, he made the most of it, making a decent number of appearances and scoring a goal or two over two seasons.
Quite liking the Italian lifestyle, evidently, Bajrami decided to make his stay at Sassuolo permanent, coughing up a whopping £5.2m for the pleasure. Two seasons he spent there, taking to the pitch in a number of memorable appearances.
Yet the siren song of Scotland finally lured Bajrami away, leading him to join Rangers in the Premiership for a fee of around £3.5m. It's early days yet, but he's been performing admirably, with 28 appearances and two goals under his belt.
Now, where would a footballer's biography be without a mention of their career highlights? Let's not forget Bajrami’s contributions to a variety of cups and qualifiers, where he's scored more than a few times. We'll be keeping our eyes on this one, folks - who knows what the future might bring.
