USA midfielder James Sands to jet into Glasgow for Rangers medical
New York City midfielder James Sands is set to jet into Glasgow to put the finishing touches on a move to Rangers, according to Glasgow Evening Times journalist Chris Jack.
Writing on the newspaper’s website, Jack reports that Sands, 21, has agreed terms for an 18-month loan stay at Ibrox with an option for the deal to be made permanent.
It is understood that the USA international is now poised to fly to Scotland to undergo a medical and sign all the paperwork needed to complete Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s first signing as Rangers manager.
Deal No 1
On Tuesday, we saw Nathan Patterson leave Ibrox in a club-record deal.
Everton could end up paying £16million for the 20-year-old right-back and it seems Rangers are already putting some of the money to good use.
Signing Sands in this manner is a good idea as it will give the Gers until the end of next season to make a decision on whether to trigger their option to make the deal permanent.
They’re essentially trying before they buy, which is a very wise move and stops the club from getting stung.
Sands sounds like a promising young player but there’s obviously a massive difference from playing in the MLS to playing in the Scottish Premiership and in Europe as a whole.
However, he’s 21, he’s versatile and has already been capped seven times by the USA.
Sands can play at right-back, centre-back and in the midfield and Jack reports that van Bronckhorst sees him as an addition to his midfield and not a replacement for Patterson.
Rangers have a lot of midfield options already so it’ll be interesting to see if someone is moved on or if Sands is coming in now to prepare for life potentially after Steven Davis and Scott Arfield.
In other Rangers news, Dharmesh Sheth has shared what Jermain Defoe has told him about a major transfer story at Ibrox.