Rangers transfer update: Robby McCrorie could miss Ibrox moment as Michael Beale faces triple keeper requirement – Chris Jack
Robby McCrorie is “in danger of missing his moment” at Rangers and is sure to move on if Michael Beale doesn’t turn to him for next season, says Chris Jack.
The third-choice Gers man is set to get an opportunity over the final weeks of the season, with Allan McGregor expected to retire at the age of 41 after more than 500 appearances for the club, and 35-year-old Jon McLaughlin also in line to leave.
Beale therefore faces the prospect of needing to sign three players at the same position as part of his substantial squad rebuild this summer, if McCrorie isn’t his man after just two senior appearances in his Ibrox career and none so far in this campaign.
Jack wrote in The Herald: “Jon McLaughlin is not the answer as number one. With a year left on his contract, a decision must be made whether he will be the understudy once again. An exit seems to suit all parties.
“The jersey could go to Robby McCrorie but the 25-year-old is in danger of missing his moment at Ibrox.
“The final Premiership fixtures give him a chance to prove himself but if Beale chooses to go in a different direction then the Auchenhowie graduate will surely look to leave his boyhood club.”
Overhaul
The tail-end of a miserable campaign is surely McCrorie’s last chance to convince as two first-team outings in eight years as a senior Rangers player doesn’t provide a substantial body of work.
That period obviously includes loans away from the club and at times he can probably count himself unlucky to have not been given more chances, especially as McLaughlin has been even though he is clearly not one for the future.
For McGregor to once again be the clear starter at Ibrox in his fifth decade is not a ringing endorsement of the recruitment at the club, but then nothing is especially right now, hence the major rebuild.
Jack Butland is tipped to be at least one arrival to Glasgow and the former England keeper has far more experience in big games, even if it is another embarrassing Rangers statistic that McCrorie is the last man to keep a clean sheet in an Old Firm derby (29 August 2021).
If the Auchenhowie product can’t win the gloves between now and the summer it would make sense for him to look for a new permanent start elsewhere rather than keep waiting.
Two or three keepers on top of a host of necessary additions elsewhere in this squad is going to make this an extremely busy summer, and how much it will cost is going to be illuminating since if it consists of a raft of free transfers confidence may not be especially high heading into the new season.
In other Rangers news, An angry Simon Jordan has torn into Beale who may be starting to regret his return to Ibrox.