Rangers to sign new John Lundstram on Saturday as Callum Burnside agrees three-year contract
Rangers could well be about to sign their new John Lundstrum on Saturday, 11 March as Northern Irish youngster Callum Burnside has agreed on a new three-year deal.
The Northern Irish news outlet BelfastLive reported on 8 March that Burnside, 16, is due to join the Gers from Linfield alongside fellow 16-year-old midfielder Blaine McClure.
It is understood that both teenagers have already undergone trials with the Gers and will be permanently relocating to Glasgow in the summer transfer window.
The Light Blues are certainly building towards the future of the club, having reportedly offered 19-year-old Arron Lyall a new contract in the hopes of keeping him beyond this season.
The club have also identified 21-year-old Thomas Kristensen from Danish side Aarhus as a new centre-back [The Sun, 9 March] with club officials scouting over recent weeks.
Burnside is expected to put pen to paper on a three-year deal at Ibrox this Saturday (11 March).
And it seems as though the Gers are lining up their new Lundstrum who Burnside holds similar marauding midfield attributes too.
Lundstram, who’s known for his energetic and tenacious box-to-box attributes from his days at Sheffield United, emerged as one of the best in his role in the Premier League during the 2019/20 campaign alongside John Fleck. The 29-year-old admitted in an interview with Sky Sports back then that his best attribute was to get in the box to add goals and assists.
Lundstram holds a similar role at Ibrox, but has been known to play much deeper also, and with the veteran midfielder not getting any younger, the Gers will need to find long-term replacements and Burnside is certainly one of them, recently described as a “box-to-box midfielder” by Gers youth coach Cameron Campbell [BelfastLive, 28 July],
This is a huge step in the right direction for the Glasgow outfit as they aim to further boost their academy quota and acquiring highly-rated young talents presents an opportunity for a sustainable club model and future.
It is one of the reasons that they hired Michael Beale, as he made his name in youth-team football, and has a track record of developing players at academy level, as well as being passionate about working with young players that he can improve.
And there’s no reason why 16-year-old Burnside can’t develop extensively over the next couple of years and make his Ibrox debut before he turns 18.
That’s the kind of model Rangers are trying to build under Beale’s management, if you’re good enough you’re old enough.
In other Rangers news, this Ibrox coach is wanted in England as a managerial merry-go-round begins.