21-year-old explains taking lower Aberdeen offer amid Rangers links

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Leighton Clarkson has admitted rejecting bigger offers to join for Aberdeen amid claims Rangers wanted to sign him.

As soon as Michael Beale hinted at signing players he had previously worked with, everybody was trying to guess names.

Dujon Sterling has proven to be correct but whether other linked players like Ike Ugbo and Jonathan Panzo join is unclear.

Then there was midfielder Clarkson, who spent last season on loan at Aberdeen from Liverpool.

Beale highlighted last season that he knew Clarkson from his time coaching at Liverpool, branding him a ‘good, young player’.

Unsurprisingly, Clarkson was then linked with Rangers.

Football Insider reported in May that Rangers had joined the race for Clarkson’s signature.

Clarkson completed a permanent move to Aberdeen though, ultimately bringing the Rangers rumours to an end.

However, The Athletic – a much more reliable source – have now stated that Rangers were ‘in the conversation’ to sign Clarkson alongside Celtic.

Bologna, Reading, Coventry City and West Bromwich Albion were in the mix too with Clarkson now explaining his decision.

Leighton Clarkson opens up on Aberdeen decision

Clarkson told The Athletic that he was hearing of interest from other clubs all throughout last season.

The 21-year-old decided to pay no attention and told his agent to only inform him of interest if it was serious.

Clarkson claims that ‘three or four’ teams were serious about signing him and some offered him big money.

However, Clarkson took a lower offer from Aberdeen, feeling that Pittodrie was the right home for him at this stage in his career.

“People can ring your agent up and say, ‘We like this player,’ but I heard that all last season and you can just wait around for weeks,” Clarkson says. “It’s why when I was away I said, ‘Don’t even tell me until it gets proper’. There were probably three or four clubs that did really want me. Some of them were offering more money than what I’m on now. It just seemed right coming back here just for my football and career,” he added.

It’s unclear whether Rangers were one of those clubs to offer such a deal to Clarkson.

Beale has though been interested in adding more midfielders this summer even after landing Nicolas Raskin, Todd Cantwell and Kieran Dowell this year.

LAFC star Jose Cifuentes is wanted but a deal has been dragging on.

Maybe Clarkson could have been an alternative for Cifuentes in the Rangers transfer plans, but that possibility has been ruled out – and Beale will be pulling out all the stops to land Cifuentes.