One thing Rangers have struggled to do this summer is move players out the door to help raise funds and free up space.
Only Robby McCrorie has been sold after a promise by the manager to let him go so that he can play regular football.
Things seem to be hotting up though with Scott Wright possibly heading across the border, Sam Lammers agreeing to leave, James Tavernier considering his various options and Connor Goldson having a medical in Cyprus.
Connor Goldson edges closer to Rangers departure
There has been an update on the latter by Cypriot podcast This is Mappa, who has had their finger on the pulse since speculation first broke:
“Aris press officer Kostas Papadopoulos spoke to SPORT FM 95.0 this morning.
“We are close to a new signing. Things are not so easy as it involves several moving parts. We are doing our best to conclude a deal. We will not divulge any names.”
It is easy to put two and two together in this situation given how quickly the story has moved since Goldson was seen leaving Glasgow Airport.
The biggest issue will be the towering centre-half’s wages on a reported £37,000 per week deal after extending in the summer of 2022, apparently something that wouldn’t be a problem for Limassol.
The time is right to sell Goldson, if the price is right
Philippe Clement knows that he needs to clear space in his squad, however, when he was asked recently about speculation linking his captain and vice-captain with moves away from he club, he was quick to play it down:
“Fake news. But it is part of being in Glasgow. You cannot react to every fake news because then you’ll only be busy with that.
“What I see is that they brought a lot to the club the last couple of years. That they did really good games with me. They also did games where it was less, like all the team.
“For me they maybe played too much last season or the last couple of years because if you play 60 games nobody is every time at his top shape. They have done all of that for the club, they worked really hard for that.
“They are not going to play 60 games the season to come now and all the speculation around them is the same speculation that you can have around every player. It is the same for us.
“If there is somebody coming with the right amount of money we will see, we will discuss. But you always need to see and then you need to replace somebody and you need enough money to replace them to make it better, otherwise it is also of no use. It is finding a balance in that way.“
It’s amazing how quickly things can move in football.
Clement is right, Goldson and Tavernier have played a lot of football in recent years to the extent that they are maybe going to start to see the sort of injuries that they have done well to avoid before.
Rangers have struggled to sell at the right times in the past, however, despite their importance to the manager and club, you can’t pick and choose what players receive offers.
What is clear, is that Clement won’t sanction any cut-price deals for the pair just to get rid of them.
He should also be given every penny to reinvest, not just to replace them, but to upgrade in areas where it is needed most.
