Doug Ward

Sun 9 January 2022 11:30, UK

James Maxwell confirms he needs to leave Rangers in order to further his career with a new contract seemingly not being offered.

The 20-year-old left-back, who’s currently on loan at Ayr United, is reportedly wanted by Leeds United, Dunfermline and Partick [Daily Record] and his existing contract expires at the end of the season.

Maxwell admits that his route into the first-team at Ibrox is blocked by Borna Barisic and Calvin Bassey and while it may be best for him to leave, the youngster hasn’t ruled out a return to Govan in the future.

“I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll probably need to leave Rangers. At a big club, it’s always hard to break through. I knew my chances would be limited,” he said, as quoted by the Daily Record.

“There’s so much pressure, especially last season when they had to stop 10 in a Row.

“Borna has been on fire for the last year-and-a-half and now Calvin is doing really well too.

“I’ve just had to focus on my loans, making sure that I get game time and play well.

“I’ve always had it in the back of my head that if it didn’t happen for me, I needed to have a career regardless. If it’s not at Ibrox, I’d go somewhere else.

“I feel I’ve done what Rangers wanted me to do when they sent me on loan. So there’s a wee bit of frustration but I’m not angry. It isn’t keeping me up at night, thinking: ‘What else can I do?’.

“I’ve given myself the best opportunity and it looks like it won’t be enough for Rangers. That’s fair enough.”

Maxwell added: “Rangers haven’t committed to saying there’s a new deal on the table for me.

“So with a bit of interest in me, it looks like I’ll be moving on.”

Cash in?

Maxwell’s contract expires in the summer so it may be best for the Gers to cash in on him now rather than lose money and keep him on until the summer.

If Leeds are interested in him, then that’s the team we’d probably want to sell him to as they’ll no doubt offer more money than the likes of Dunfermline and Patrick, who are probably thinking of a pre-contract offer.

Leeds could do with left-back depth right now so it would make sense for them to make a move this month.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst already has two solid left-back options at his disposal in Barisic and Bassey.

While Bassey has been playing at centre-back in recent weeks, injuries will allay and the potential signing of players like John Souttar and Danilho Doekhi could add extra depth in the centre-half roles.

Maxwell’s not got much of a chance of breaking into van Bronckhorst’s senior side if he does opt to sign a new deal but even so, it doesn’t seem as though a new offer is on the table for the young left-back based on his interview.

In other Rangers news, van Bronckhorst wants this player to be signed before 31 January with a major exit on the cards.