Rangers have already had one bid rejected for Porto winger Gonçalo Borges.
But the Ibrox side have been told the Portuguese club’s transfer demands when it comes to the 23-year-old winger this season.
Despite Borges being a starter for FC Porto in pre-season, the Liga NOS giants are hoping to sell the winger to fuel further incomings this summer.
Ligue 1 Strasbourg looked to have stolen a march on Rangers this week with Fabrizio Romano backing up sources in France regarding a deal.
Whilst for the time being the Strasbourg deal is not completely off the table, Rangers fans will be interested in the latest reports around Gonçalo Borges coming out of Portugal.
Borges has Strasbourg doubts
Rangers reportedly had a €6m (£5m) bid for Gonçalo Borges turned down over the weekend.
It’s a substantial fee for Rangers to go out committing to a player and clearly signifies three things at Ibrox.
Firstly, that the club believe Gonçalo Borges has the talent to fetch a much higher fee in the coming seasons.
Secondly that Rangers are actively looking for a new starting attacker to bring into the club this window.
But also that the club have money there to spend and are actively scouring the market for targets they believe are realistic this summer.
Ligue 1 Strasbourg – propped up investment from Chelsea backers BlueCo – have however upped their offer to somewhere in the region of €8m (£6.7m) and talks are progressing.
But the latest coming out of reputable Portuguese outlet O Jogo suggests that a deal certainly isn’t done.
The report claims that whilst the Borges deal could see the winger eventually move to Stamford Bridge, the Portuguese doesn’t fancy the switch.
FC Porto are also holding out for closer to €10m (£8.4m) with a sell-on fee and, whilst that’s not expected to be a problem for BlueCo, the player’s reluctance could be.
Rangers compete with Chelsea billions
This is not to say that Gonçalo Borges would prefer a move to Rangers over Strasbourg. Far from it.
But it’s clear that Porto have a distinct asking price and if Rangers want to do business for the winger, they’ll need to up their bid by about £3.5m.
In a tight window, it remains unclear if the Ibrox side are willing to play ball as Strasbourg try and sell the Ligue 1 dream to the Portuguese.
Backed by the Chelsea consortium, fans will also note the situation with Brazilian winger Savinho this summer.
Manchester City – the biggest club in the so-called City Group – splashed €40m (£30.8m) (BBC Sport) to sign the attacker from Ligue 2 Troyes this window.
The only thing is, Savinho had spent the season out on loan at La Liga Girona and never actually played a game for Troyes since joining the club in 2022.
Both Girona and Troyes are part of the same City Group consortium as Man City and it’s brought into question the manipulating of FFP rules.
Whilst we’re not going to get into the footballing morality of the entire thing here, in a similar vein it suggests that Gonçalo Borges would have a route to Chelsea via Strasbourg.
Despite this, the winger is unconvinced over a move and Rangers, for the time being at least, appear unwilling to meet Porto’s asking price.
