As Rangers crash out of the Champions League, Premier League Leeds United have once again been mentioned alongside £7m man Ryan Kent.
Kent, 24, has always struggled for consistency at Ibrox but in the early part of this season, doesn’t quite look like the player who dazzled defences and won games for Rangers in the last campaign.
The touch is off, shots are being ballooned, there’s a distinct lack of confidence in taking defenders on – even if he did get the assist for Morelos’ opener against Malmo.
As a result of that dispiriting Champions League exit to the Swedish Champions Rangers are between £30m and £40m down with a £4.2m Playoff parachute security also falling by the wayside.
Kent was uninspiring in defeat and when the club relies so heavily on his input when the chips are down, to see the ex-Liverpool kid toil is usually a bad omen for the club.
Now – as Rangers figure out ways to plug the financial gap – the Athletic’s Rangers correspondent Jordan Campbell believes Leeds United will have one eye on the situation.
The Premier League side and Marcelo Bielsa are known to be huge admirers of the winger and have twice failed with moves to bring him to Elland Road.
Campbell believes that this could lead the Lilywhites to stand up and take notice with reports earlier in the summer suggesting they were mulling over a £15m bid [Scottish Sun].
“Leeds United have watched Kent for two years – they will have taken a keen interest in events at Ibrox,” writes Campbell [Athletic].
That report also mentions that the Gers have forecasted they will lose a total of £14.4m this season – with that budget based around Europa League qualification.
The ramifications from exiting the Champions League qualifiers at this stage are many and one of the biggest may well be losing Ryan Kent or fellow asset Alfredo Morelos.
But this could be even further intensified if the current Rangers side fail to make even the second tier of European competition with a far-flung Playoff in the wings.
