Rangers’ pursuit of an Allan McGregor replacement might just have been given a boost with Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Andrey Lunev keen to leave the Bundesliga outfit during the summer transfer window.
The Glasgow giants may have put off signing a new number one last summer but, with McGregor now 41 and with Jon McLaughlin more an old hen than a spring chicken, it’s a chore Rangers cannot ignore for much longer.
Especially with McGregor one of many players who’s contracts are due to expire on July 1st.
Manager Mick Beale admitted at his Friday press conference that the veteran shot-stopper – alongside Alfredo Morelos – could be heading for the exit within a matter of weeks.
Andrey Lunev, ten years McGregor’s junior, could be a smart, low-cost replacement. He too will be a free-agent in the summer. Ibrox was mentioned tentatively as a possible destination for Lunev late last year and Vitaliy Kafanov, goalkeeping coach for the Russian national team, admits that his seven-cap tutee has his heart set on a fresh start after another season welded to the Bayer Leverkusen bench.
Could Rangers make Andrey Lunev their new goalkeeper?
“When we talked at the end of the year, he said; ‘I want to leave’,” Kafanov tells Sport24.
“The next step will be a team less strong and famous, but he will play there.”
A team like Rangers, maybe.
Lunev, a three-time Russian Premier League champion with Zenit St Petersburg, would not face quite such competition for a starting berth even in Glasgow. He’s played only once all season. That is despite the fact that the man in front of him in Leverkusen’s pecking order – Lukas Hradecky – has not exactly enjoyed a faultless campaign between the sticks.
“He went to a very high level team (in Leverkusen),” Kafanov adds. “At first, it was not easy for him. The goalkeeper trains, trains, but then doesn’t have game time.
“When you grow and improve, you want to show it all and enjoy the games.”
Lunev’s agent, Anton Smirnev, was asked about reports linking the one-time FC Ufa stopper to Ibrox back in October. He was, however, in no mood to make any revelations.
“Information about Rangers, I cannot confirm. These are rumours,” he told Rus Football.
“There is interest in Andrey. But until there is a substantial conversation with Bayer, all communication from our side is blocked.”
