Rangers transfer news: Micheal Beale eyes 1 July breakthrough with Jose Cifuentes to sign Ibrox deal
The long-awaited Jose Cifuentes to Rangers move could be set for a breakthrough next weekend (1-2 July) with Michael Beale hoping proceedings “gather pace” at that point, Mail Plus reports.
The Ecuadorian international has been linked for some weeks now but after a flurry of arrivals at Ibrox this summer the pace has slowed since Sam Lammers was announced on 15 June.
However, the end of the month is tipped to prove key in the push to sign the midfielder and the club “expect” key developments at that point on the way to getting him in at Ibrox ready for next term.
Cifuentes has a contract at LAFC that runs until December, but is free to sign a pre-contract from 1 July, at which point Rangers reportedly “expect the 24-year-old to put pen to paper and will then seek to negotiate his early release from the Californian club in time for the new season,” according to the Mail Plus report.
Positive
The deal has been widely reported as on the brink for a while now without the key development materialising, but the perspective from within the club sounds good and a date for the MLS man to trigger advancements is what fans will want to hear.
Based on how the situation appears to have moved with the terms negotiated on the player’s side it seems like a done deal for December at the very latest.
And with both Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin brought in six months before their own contracts expired in January it is clear Beale and the club know how to get such an arrangement over the line.
Delays of any kind in transfer pursuits are frustrating but the timing of Cifuentes’ obligations in Los Angeles and his contract dates have made it fairly inevitable.
Once he is free to sign his Rangers deal the expectations sound strong that the last steps to him actually arriving at the club can be advanced through fairly quickly in a week’s time.
That should get him to Glasgow in enough time to get a good preseason under Beale and be up to speed for the crucial start to the new season.
It may not be as quick as the first four confirmed deals but assuming everything goes to plan from next weekend onwards it should be quick enough.
In other Rangers news, there is another ongoing transfer pursuit that is going far less satisfyingly, with the Gers “increasingly unhappy” with the selling club.