I had mixed feelings about Gassama signing for Rangers but he's like my little brother and I wished him all the best

I had mixed feelings about Gassama signing for Rangers but he's like my little brother and I wished him all the best

As club captain at Hillsborough, Barry Bannan grew so close to the young Frenchman that he came to look upon the 21-year-old as a little brother

Djeidi Gassama and Barry Bannan were close at Sheffield United (Image: Getty Images )

Sheffield Wednesday skipper Barry Bannan is the first to admit he’s got mixed feelings about Djeidi Gassama’s move to Rangers.

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As club captain at Hillsborough, he grew so close to the young Frenchman that he came to look upon the 21-year-old as a little brother.

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Naturally then, he’d love nothing more than to see his friend smash it in Scotland.

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But that’s where the Celtic-daft Owls ace is conflicted.

Because if Gassama’s goes on to fulfil the huge potential Bannan has seen brewing down in Yorkshire, it might just threaten the era of dominance his Parkhead heroes have built up this past decade.

It was that dilemma Bannan had to grapple with last week as he bid farewell to the former PSG youngster at their St George’s Park training camp, which coincidentally was where Russell Martin’s squad were based too.

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“I was really close with Djeidi,” the former Scotland midfielder told Record Sport. “We had a laugh and a joke when the deal was completed last week at St George's Park. I wished him all the best.

Djeidi Gassama has signed for Rangers (Image: Rangers FC )

“But I said to him, ‘If you need any help in Glasgow, don't phone me!’

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“No he's a lovely kid. I've got family members who are Rangers fans and no doubt I’ll be looking to him to sort me out with some tickets - but for them, not me personally!

“I got on with him really well, he was like a kid brother to me. There’s a big age gap between us and he looked up to me a bit, so I'd love to see him do well - but not too well!”

Gassama has signed a four-year deal with the option of a fifth after completing a £2.2million switch to Glasgow.

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The Rangers fans were made to sweat on the move being completed however.

On Thursday night, leaked pictures emerged from Gers training camp down south showing Gassama cutting about the plush £80million base used by the England national team in Light Blues training gear.

Yet the following morning, it appeared Gassama’s move north could be in danger as Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri stalled in the hope of luring in bigger offers to help appease troubled Wednesday’s cash crisis.

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Asked if he knew anything about the delays, the 35-year-old Wednesday ace joked: “Aye I locked him in his room for a few days so he couldn't get out!

"Seriously, I think this is a great move for Djeidi and Rangers."

In the end, Rangers got the deal done this week - and Bannan believes it will work out to be terrific business for the Light Blues.

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“Djeidi’s done a lot of growing up since he came to Wednesday but at the start of his time here, it took him quite a long time to get to the pace of the English game.

“You could tell he had ability from his first day in training but it just wasn't clicking, he was in and out of the team last season.

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“Obviously, as a young kid coming out to a new country, it was quite difficult for him.

“We had a lot of French boys on the team which helped him as well a wee bit but he was obviously adjusting to a completely different life to the one he’d been used to in France.

“You could see that some days he would come in tired and you wouldn't really get much out of him. But then there were other days when he'd be on FIRE!

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"Being the captain of the club, I was really close with him and tried to help him. And crucially, he did listen to the pointers we tried to give him.

“He was a really lovely, lovely kid off the pitch, really nice. Just a down to earth kid who wanted to learn.

“So his first season was hard but you could see there was ability from the off.

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Barry Bannan (Image: Getty Images )

“Then at the start of last season, he came back and had this more mature sense about him. He’d had a newborn baby with his missus, so it looked like he’d done a lot of growing up in that summer.

“I think he was told by the manager that he might have to get on loan before that preseason - but I heard he told the manager something like ‘I won't be going anywhere, I'll come back and prove to you.’

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“It was like he had a bee in his bonnet. He went away and worked really hard on his upper body strength and last season we saw him become a different player completely for us.

“He got most of the Player of the Year awards along with Shea Charles, so he had a really, really strong season."

But while Bannan sees big things for Gassama's future, he admits there's still some work to be done with the France Under-20 cap in the here and now.

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“I’d say the Rangers fans are probably still going to have to be patient with him because he's still a young boy, only 21," he said.

“I know that's probably not young in football terms but he's still got a lot to learn.

“He's not shy. He's a lovely kid who just wants to have a good laugh.

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“There will be games where you'll be frustrated with him - and then there'll be games where you think, ‘Wow, we've got some player on our hands here.

“He has got some serious potential and last season we saw that at Wednesday.

“He maybe didn’t finish the season as strongly as he’d have wanted but he did play a lot of games last year for someone of such a young age - and he was brilliant. If he can find a bit of consistency then it'll be a very, very good signing for Rangers.”

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