As the transfer deadline for English top-flight and Championship clubs draws ever nearer, it looks as though Rangers will secure a new addition.
Daily Mail journalist, Jack Gaughan, tweeted on Thursday morning that Manchester City winger Brandon Barker is headed for Ibrox on a permanent deal. He also suggested that the move will be a free transfer.
If this deal goes through, it’ll be another addition in wide areas by Steven Gerrard this summer. The club have already signed Jake Hastie, Jordan Jones and Sheyi Ojo (loan). However, to an extent, those arrivals have been offset by Ryan Kent returning to Liverpool and Daniel Candeias leaving for Turkey.
Barker is 22 but has only a solitary FA Cup appearance to his name for the Man City senior team.
Outside of Pep Guardiola’s plans, the pacy wide man has featured on loan for Rotherham, NAC Breda and most recently, Preston North End. However, he’s best known to Scottish fans from his 2017/18 stint at Hibernian.
He made 27 league appearances for the Easter Road outfit, scoring twice. He played three times against Rangers that season, including in the bizarre 5-5 draw on the final day.
The Gers were linked with a move for Barker last summer [Scottish Sun].
However, it’s been pretty much all quiet since then, so this prospective transfer comes as a relative surprise.
Rangers fans split over reported swoop
So far, it seems Rangers fans are divided on the move. Some believe his pace will add something to the squad, whereas others see him as just another mediocre addition.
Here’s a selection of reactions from Twitter:
https://twitter.com/NicolScott23/status/1159412786981679104
https://twitter.com/Matt17513858/status/1159425928537288705
https://twitter.com/ryansmith55_/status/1159436904695259136
With Barker preferring to operate on the left side, though, it does seems that his arrival would spell the end of the pursuit of Ryan Kent.
