Rangers to face Cody Gakpo for PSV as Manchester United delay approach
Manchester United have delayed their approach to sign Cody Gakpo from PSV so he can play against Rangers, according to Sky Sports.
The 23-year-old is high on Erik Ten Hag’s priority list but the Red Devils are choosing to be respectful to the Dutch club’s wishes and allowing him to play in the Champions League playoff against Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side.
The tie is level at 2-2 after an enthralling first leg at Ibrox last week which has left the Light Blues needing a stellar performance in the Netherlands to reach the group stages.
“The club are thought to have an offer for Gakpo ready to present to PSV – but out of respect, will wait until after their Champions League qualifier against Rangers on Wednesday,” Sky reported on their transfer centre [22 August, 04:30pm].
If Rangers are beaten by the Eredivisie side, who won the Dutch Cup last season, they will enter the Europa League group stages again where they will look to go one better than they managed in 2021-22.
Politics
Ross Wilson and Rangers have no say in how Manchester United go about their transfer business, obviously, but they are in dire straits right now and you would think that they can’t afford to wait to make any offer.
If PSV have told them that they won’t talk until after the tie against van Bronckhorst’s men then fair enough, there’s not much they can do but respect is non-existent in football these days.
It is basically politics that have seen the Red Devils hold back and they should not be doing such a thing when the transfer window is due to close in less than two weeks’ time and they still have a lot of holes in their squad.
Rangers wouldn’t wait for a game to be played before making their moves in the transfer market because they know the ruthlessness of the modern game and they won’t become gullible to it.
If Gakpo does go on to score the winner in Eindhoven then van Bronckhorst can feel properly aggrieved at the decision of the English side.
In other Rangers news, the club have made their presence known to the FA as they complain over the diabolical refereeing performance by Willie Collum at the weekend.