Bordeaux owner Gerard Lopez admits keeping hold of Josh Maja will be ‘complicated’ as Rangers eye up the free-agent striker for a move to the Scottish Premiership.
If reports are to be believed, the former Sunderland poacher would have wasted little time in putting pen to paper on a new contract had Bordeaux secured their return to France’s Ligue 1 last season.
So when they finished third – three points outside the promotion places – Josh Maja’s future suddenly became, to quite Lopez, that little bit ‘more complicated’.
Maja may have little appetite for another season of second-tier football. Especially when there is Champions League action on offer elsewhere.
According to Rangers Review, the Glasgow giants do hold a genuine interest in the Nigeria international. Rangers scouted throughout much of the last few months. And Maja’s free-agent status means he is far more affordable than the likes of Cyriel Dessers and Danilo.
“We had discussions with Josh Maja,” Lopez tells MaLigue2. “He was important for the season and we like him a lot.
“(Now) he has opportunities elsewhere, it’s not over for us but it’s more complicated (to keep him).”
Josh Maja is one of Rangers’ striker targets
Bordeaux reportedly need to raise £35 million in order to ease their ongoing financial concerns (France Football Weekly). The time has passed for Les Girondins to sell Maja for a considerable sum. Though the striker’s departure would at least reduce Bordeaux’s wage bill to an extent.
Maja scored 17 goals and set up six more last term. Beale, a man who demands more from his centre-forwards than simply putting the ball in the back of the net, will have been impressed by the way the former Fulham loanee adapted to a new role at Bordeaux; dropping deep at times and almost operating as a number ten as well as a number nine.
Rangers have already snapped up Sam Lammers from Atalanta for £3 million. Bids have also been lodged for both Danilo and Dessers, but the Gers are struggling to a agree a fee for Feyenoord frontman present and past.
