Ben Davies could be forced to empty Rangers locker soon as Michael Beale sack decision made
Ben Davies was close to leaving Rangers during the summer transfer window and he could be forced to empty his locker at Ibrox with a sack decision now taken on Michael Beale’s Ibrox future.
The central defender signed from Liverpool in a £4m deal last summer to help replace Calvin Bassey and had a solid first campaign at Ibrox alongside Connor Goldson at the heart of the Rangers defence.
The 27-year attracting plenty of interest throughout the summer window with Championship outfit Stoke strong contenders to take him on with his first-team chances potentially limited [Football Scotland, 2 June].
However, according to journalist Chris Jack via Rangers Review (8 September), Davies had no desire to depart Ibrox during the summer and the loan approach made by Stoke City did not meet Rangers’ financial requirements, despite Alex Neil being keen on a reunion with the defender he managed at Preston North End.
It is also reported that had Davies left, the club would have moved to replace him with a new signing, in what would have been a dramatic end to a busy transfer window for Rangers.
Jack wrote: “Rangers would have moved to replace Ben Davies if he had departed but a loan approach from Stoke City didn’t meet the financial requirements as Alex Neil sought to be reunited with the defender following their time together at Preston North End.
“In any case, those close to the defender repeatedly insisted that he had no desire to leave Ibrox.”
The centre-back positions were a considerable transfer priority for Rangers, with the club linked with a whole host of names throughout the summer and there was a point during the latter stages of the window when any move for a defender would have depended on Davies’ decision to stick or twist (The 4th Official, 1 September).
Allowing Davies to leave Ibrox will have been very costly given his experience and quality shown alongside Goldson throughout the last campaign.
But the defender’s first-team chances have dramatically changed with Beale preferring Goldson and John Souttar as his centre-back partnership so far this campaign and his first-team future at Ibrox could well have taken a turn for the worse with a sack decision already made by the club on Beale.
As reported by the Daily Record (6 September), chairman John Bennett and other Ibrox chiefs are “ready to stand behind” Beale for now despite disappointing results in the first weeks of the season.
Daily Record journalist Keith Jackson also reported on the paper’s website Wednesday morning (6 September) that Bennett “will resist calls” to remove the under-fire Gers boss “despite the outpouring of fan fury” after the 1-0 loss to Celtic on Sunday (3 September), but Beale will have to “deliver an immediate upturn in results”.
The Rangers chairman is “determined” to give his manager the “benefit of the doubt” but the 43-year-old will need to “avoid another European humiliation” and successfully reach the League Cup semi-final to prevent his job situation becoming “critical”.
The Gers are pretty stocked at centre-back right now and there are certainly no guarantees that Davies will be given a clear run in the first eleven, with youngster Leon King now set to stay despite considering various loan opportunities [Sky Sports, 1 September] and the summer acquisition of Leon Balogun.
As a result, Davies may well be regretting his decision to reject Stoke’s advances and he could well be forced into a decision to empty his Ibrox locker very soon if his situation doesn’t change over the next few months.
In other Rangers news, James Tavernier has reacted to jeers the Gers faced after the defeat to Celtic.