There may be conflicting reports about the future of Hamburg defender David Bates, but one thing is for certain – Rangers have moved on from the towering defender.
The former Raith Rovers centre-half left Ibrox for Germany a season ago and initially excelled at the Volkparkstadion.
But with new boss Deiter Hecking in charge at HSV, German newspaper Bild have claimed Bates is being primed to leave.
Those reports have since been quashed by the Daily Record, who claim Scotland cap Bates will still be at Hamburg next season.
It’s a far cry from the heady days of links to
Everton, Arsenal [Daily Record] and Bayern Munich.
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Any time there’s talk of the Ginger Ramos moving on, people will always muse over a hypothetical return to Rangers.
But the Ibrox club is incredibly well-stocked at centre-back for the foreseeable future, with the addition of Swedish international Filip Helander (26) bolstering a robust backline.
He joins Connor Goldson (26), Nikola Katic (22) and fellow new signing George Edmundson (21) in an area where Rangers are superbly well stocked.
The notion that David Bates could break into a Rangers squad boasting such strength in depth is a difficult one to subscribe to.
So whilst we hope that the reports claiming the former Ibrox cult hero is set to stay in Hamburg are true, any bold suggestions he could return to Rangers if they’re not will be incredibly short-lived.
