Kevin Thelwell certainly has a busy job on his hands as he prepares to move into the sporting director role at Rangers.
The Everton chief has spent the last three years at Goodison Park but is now set to move on from the Premier League club as Rangers brace for a US takeover.
Barry Ferguson has stressed Rangers must move quickly with no new manager in situ despite the fact the season is set to roll to a close this coming weekend.
With several high profile decisions to be taken on several players in the Rangers squad, Kevin Thelwell’s challenge just got a little bigger amid reports one £3m flop is set to return to Ibrox.
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Kevin Thelwell to welcome Jose Cifuentes back to Rangers
Rangers have several players out on loan as the club look to trim their wage bill and give the next manager, whether that is Davide Ancelotti or someone else, the best possible chance.
Birmingham City look interested in signing Ben Davies and Kieran Dowell permanently, freeing up a massive weight and around £2m per annum from the annual wage bill.
But the situation with two other players is not quite so clear, with Hannover 96’s sporting director confirming Rabbi Matondo will return to Rangers this summer.
Jose Cifuentes looks set to follow him too, amid reports that Aris Thessaloniki will not be taking up the £3m option to buy inserted into the Ecuadorean’s contract.
Ecuadorean site Studio Futbol are claiming that the Greek side will not pursue the 26-year-old midfielder after Rangers refused to negotiate the sell-on clause down.
Rangers must free up wage bill for transfer splurge
Whilst there is a big focus on shipping players out at Rangers this summer, there is also plenty of interest in who might be coming into the club.
The transfer links have started early with five solid Rangers transfer links making headlines before the club has even appointed a new manager.
With Kevin Thelwell not set to start until mid-June, reports have also linked Rangers to Tyrhys Dolan, the Blackburn winger out of contract this summer.
The likes of Jose Cifuentes are on considerable wages and Rangers will need to free up their wage bill by shipping out underachievers.
It’s going to be a hectic start to life at Ibrox for Thelwell, who will only have a matter of weeks to reshape the Rangers squad before pre-season begins.
