£5m twist emerges as Southampton bid to sign Rangers contract rebel Ryan Kent
Southampton want to sign Rangers winger Ryan Kent in a £5m deal in January, according to a fresh report in The Mirror (23 December).
The 25-year-old former Liverpool man is out of contract at Ibrox this summer and is able to speak to clubs abroad from January 1st about a potential free transfer.
But Michael Beale is keen to keep him at the club, and the Saints are eyeing a potential £5m deal to take him to St Mary’s as they look to reunite him with another ex-Rangers man in Joe Aribo.
In a quick summary of what Southampton want to do in January, The Mirror (23 December, page 53) claim that while they will need to strengthen their defence to be successful in their battle against relegation, Kent is named among their transfer targets.
Waste
It would be a huge waste of talent and quality if Kent ended up in a relegation battle south of the border instead of challenging for Scottish titles and pushing for European football.
The standard of football in England is certainly higher and if Kent wants to pursue a new challenge then it would be difficult for Rangers to convince him otherwise, but he could surely do better than a team that has been sitting on the fence between the top flight and the Championship.
If they were to firm up their interest with a bid of £5m Rangers would be silly not to at least consider it, with the chance of losing him for absolutely nothing a very real possibility in just a few months.
Confidence that he will sign a new deal has dwindled, but Beale has started to build the team around him by playing him in a more central role and that could be enough to sway his decision.
In other Rangers news, up to 11 players out v Ross County including key attacker