Exclusive: Football finance expert claims Rangers could look to follow Celtic player sale model
Ibrox News recently conducted an exclusive interview with Football Finance expert Kieran Maguire, getting his views on the biggest talking points at Rangers this summer. Make sure to listen to the Price of Football podcast here.
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Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has suggested that Rangers could look to follow Celtic’s model of offloading a key player every season to fund their transfer business.
Speaking exclusively to Ibrox News, the University of Liverpool lecturer claimed that the Gers may actually be in a healthier financial state than initially expected this summer because of their run in the Europa League during the 2019/20 campaign.
But after a busy start to the transfer window which has seen substantial fees paid out for the likes of Ianis Hagi and Kemar Roofe, Maguire believes that a big name could still be headed for the exit door in the coming weeks.
The most obvious candidate is Alfredo Morelos, who has been at the centre of widespread transfer speculation for some time now.
Most recently, Football Insider reported that Italian giants AC Milan have been in contact over a potential deal, while a mooted £17 million move to Lille failed to materialise at the end of July.
The prospect of the South American leaving is still a very real one, according to Maguire.
Speaking to Ibrox News, he said: “I think Rangers certainly face challenges, as do all clubs.
“A lot will depend upon the extent of funding that the club have had from the owners and directors. I think that’s the key issue.
“By all accounts Rangers have had money advanced from the new kit manufacturer, so that will have helped as well. They have had a reasonably successful 2019/20 as far as the Europa League campaign is concerned. Those can make differences of a few million here or a few million there and that will have allowed them to be slightly more expansive in terms of their purchases.
“If you take a look at the Celtic model, they have, over the course of the past four or five years, looked to sell one player a season for a significant sum, and that has funded everything else. It could be that Rangers have looked at that and decided that’s what they wanted to do that in the long run.
“They could decide to do that this season, or they might put it back another year because Rangers are, to a certain extent in a growth phase as a club because of where they’ve come from over the past few seasons.”
As pointed out by Maguire, Celtic have indeed made a habit of selling some of their biggest names to help fund greater expenditure in the transfer market in recent seasons.
In 2018/19, for instance, they offloaded star striker Moussa Dembele for a a fee of £19.8 million, while Kieran Tierney joined Arsenal last season for around £24.3 million.
In other Rangers news, Ibrox Exclusive: Alex Bruce hails Rangers after ‘perfect’ start to season.
Don’t forget to check out The Price of Football podcast here.