Rangers now on transfer ‘red alert’ with Ross Barkley available as free agent
Rangers have been put on transfer “red alert” to sign free agent playmaker Ross Barkley over the past 24 hours, according to Football Scotland on Monday (29 August).
The former Chelsea midfielder has suddenly become available after seeing his contract terminated at Stamford Bridge through mutual consent.
It has been reported by the Daily Mail on Tuesday [30 August, pg. 67] that Barkley will rake in around £7million from the London club ahead of his next move.
Rangers are not the only club said to be interested.
In what is an interesting twist ahead of the first Old Firm instalment of the season this weekend, Celtic are also said to be in the race to get a deal over the line.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst wants another attacking midfielder for his squad, with Ross Wilson no doubt working overtime to try and put together a package to satisfy Barkley.
Financial Mystery.
Given that Barkley was on around £180,000-per-week at Stamford Bridge and has that £7million payout coming his way, he would need to drop those demands dramatically to move to Ibrox.
Yes, we may have Champions League football in the bank with the big windfalls that come with that, but that doesn’t mean we can just start throwing money around.
That is simply not affordable, and you can’t throw your wage structure up the wall for one new transfer, that is when others in the squad start to demand more too.
Premier League clubs south of the border could also join the chase, and that is when things get interesting with more money likely available to be thrown at Barkley.
Surely after his time at Chelsea, he wants to fall back in love with the game and not just take a move because of money, but you never know someone’s motivation.
There is no timescale on this given his free agent status, but it would be great to get this done as soon as possible to win the race and announce Barkley – this is one to watch.
In other Rangers news, Ross Wilson now has names lined up just in case Alfredo Morelos seals his exit this summer