Former Rangers star Andy Halliday can’t understand how Rangers have handled two of their first-team players recently.
Philippe Clement and Nils Koppen have made nine new signings this summer as the pair set about rebuilding the first-team squad at Ibrox.
There’s also been a number of high-profile departures to facilitate these new arrivals, the most prominent being the five released at the end of their contracts.
Robby McCrorie, Sam Lammers and Connor Goldson have also exited the building for around £4.5m combined but others are expected to follow.
Todd Cantwell is on the transfer list after asking to leave Govan and Ianis Hagi is also set to be sold as confirmed by Clement last week.
Moving the pair out of Ibrox will free up funds for Clement to bring in his own talent but Andy Halliday hasn’t been impressed with how Rangers have handled Cantwell and Hagi’s situations.
Todd Cantwell and Ianis Hagi treatment ‘baffling’
Halliday was speaking on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard and reckons as a result of Rangers being so public about their efforts to ship Cantwell and Hagi out of Glasgow, their transfer values will have lowered.
The ‘baffled’ Motherwell ace said: “They’ve (Rangers) spoken about trying to get bodies out the door before they bring in. But to me, the way they are going about that isn’t overly impressive either.
“Coming out telling people that Cantwell is desperate to leave and he’s asked to leave and then playing Hagi in the B team.
“Straight away I think they’re just decreasing these players’ values already. I think there’s some baffling stuff that you’ve seen from the outside looking in.”
Risky Rangers strategy
Clement has been very vocal about the fact both Cantwell and Hagi are up for sale.
He told the press in July that the Englishman had handed in a transfer request while last week before the Dynamo Kyiv first leg, the Belgian confirmed the plan was to sell Hagi.
Was the manager wrong to take such a public stance over the duo’s situations or should more have been done to keep things as lowkey as possible.
It all feels rather messy and Halliday is right, the decision to be so public could mean lowball offers are submitted for the pair.
There’s even been reports Hagi could be let go for free this summer which of course isn’t exactly the fault of Rangers – but it doesn’t help when trying to accrue a decent fee.
As of yet, it’s not clear how the Cantwell and Hagi situations are going to be resolved and as more time goes on, the less chance the club have of maximising their exit fees.
