By Sam Stone

1st Jan, 2023 | 9:53am

£10,000-a-week deal offered to Ross Stewart as Rangers and Sunderland transfer news emerges

Ross Stewart has been offered a £10,000-a-week deal by Sunderland as Rangers show an interest in the Scotland international, according to The Sun.

Sky Sports’ Keith Downie revealed (via Twitter, 29 December) that the 26-year-old striker had reached an impasse with the Black Cats over a new deal at the Stadium of Light.

Middlesbrough are believed to have shown the strongest interest in the forward with a number of Premier League and Championship sides also monitoring his situation.

The Sun have since reported (31 December) that Sunderland have offered to triple his current salary to keep him in the North East. However, it’s understood the two parties are still “some way” from coming to an agreement.

Hotting up

Stewart’s current deal comes to a close in the summer of 2023 and it appears he has plenty of clubs after his services. Considering some Premier League sides are tracking the striker, it could well make a move to Ibrox quite difficult to complete.

Furthermore, another striker is probably not at the top of Michael Beale’s wishlist for the January window. Alfredo Morelos has played well in recent weeks and looks likely to start against Celtic on Monday (2 January). Kemar Roofe and Antonio Colak are also coming back into contention after injury layoffs.

If one of them departed the club, then another striker could well become a move the new boss looks into. For now, Beale will be looking to immediately improve the squad, with some added depth in the centre of defence and in midfield probably top of his agenda.

January will be a season-defining month for Beale with the vital Old Firm clash likely to determine where the Gers season goes come the end of April.

In other Rangers news, a supercomputer has been crunching the numbers to predict a vital must-win game for Beale against Celtic.