Michael Beale will have to move a lot of Rangers players on if he is to get his wish of having a finely tuned squad.
Five have been announced as leaving at the end of their contracts, all of whom have been key players at one point or another over the last five years.
However, if Michael Beale is to get down to his desired Rangers squad of two players for each position, plus a couple extra at either end, then he’ll have to do a lot of persuading.
Buying players is the easy part.
Selling them relies on other clubs making bids.
Rangers can’t just accept the first offers that come in either.
Michael Beale also can’t just choose who to sell and who to keep at Rangers, unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
Michael Beale has inherited a serious problem with his Rangers squad
The current squad size stands at a massive 31, we know Kieran Dowell has signed and that a keeper is a week away from being announced.
This puts the squad at 33, 28 by the time those that have been announced as leaving come to the end of their contracts.
So who will the Gers boss look to ship out?
Across various platforms. The names being mentioned as being under threat are:
Jon McLaughlin, Ridvan Yilmaz, Ben Davies, Glen Kamara and Scott Wright.
Five departures takes the squad to 23.
Selling Ridvan seems unlikely unless Rangers make a decent profit.
The 22-year old has looked really good in recent games and could be pivotal next season.
Borna Barisic with a year left of his deal is more likely to leave.
The problem is, with Beale looking to add another centre-half, Jose Cifuentes apparently a done deal, Luis Palma talks progressing and the manager himself saying that multiple strikers will be targeted, the squad will still be bloated at around 28 as he replaces the key figures that left.
Michael Beale can’t keep them all as the wage bill continues to rise at Rangers.
By my maths, the Gers gaffer is looking to get down to around 23 or 24 players.
If an offer comes in for John Lundstram, Rabbi Matondo or Fashion Sakala then they should be accepted if they meet/or are close to, our valuation.
Anyone not identified as a key player should be in the same boat.
If Beale is to get the rebuild he wants, he has to cull a squad that has repeatedly failed first.
