By Pranav Shahaney

31st May, 2023 | 5:10pm

June transfer completion date emerges for Rangers to sign Jose Cifuentes, deal 95% done

Rangers are reportedly expected to finalise the transfer of Los Angeles FC midfielder Jose Cifuentes after 4 June due to his current commitments.

According to Mr Offsider, an Ecuadorian source relayed by the Daily Record and Football Scotland, the deal is now 95 per cent done.

Football Scotland [31 May] relay the fact that the Ecuador international, who has 15 caps to his name, has to play in both legs of the CONCACAF Champions League final, he will not be able to seal a transfer before that.

The first leg is on 1 June while the second one is four days later after which he will be allowed to leave and seal a permanent transfer to Ibrox.

Makes sense

Rangers look to be finalising their deals well in advance this summer and this perhaps marks the change Michael Beale wants to bring to the club.

Last summer, with Champions League football not guaranteed, the signings were not particularly impressive and the expectations were that Giovanni van Bronckhorst would be backed after they qualified for the group stage.

However, that did not happen and what followed was a disaster and unsurprisingly it was the manager who paid the price.

Cifentues appears to be a talented midfielder who’s still 24 and could be entering his prime very soon so there’s every reason to be excited about this deal.

It remains to be seen how the balance of the midfield gets affected with his arrival but Beale surely will have something planned.

With him being a player in his mid 20s and Rangers set to pay a transfer fee for him, he’s certainly a player who they think can strengthen the playing eleven.

Hopefully, his arrival does not scupper a deal for Malik Tillman, who’s understood to still be on Beale’s radar this summer.

In other Rangers news, the club are clearly playing a sick joke with their supporters after they made an announcement about a senior player.