49ers ‘to hand Russell Martin £70m warchest’ amid Rangers transfer latest
Russell Martin could be handed a huge transfer budget at Rangers this summer.
The squad that he has inherited at Ibrox needs plenty of work after they finished 17 points behind Scottish Premiership winners Celtic.
The 49ers Enterprises group and Andrew Cavenagh have completed their takeover to become the majority owners of the Govan outfit, and they could flex their financial muscles in the near future.
Rangers set for huge transfer budget under 49ers and Cavenagh control
The American investors have taken a 51 per cent controlling stake in the Glasgow giants and look set to sanction an overhaul of the team that Barry Ferguson left behind.
Rangers are expected to be handed a £20million initial budget as the new ownership looks to make an instant impression on supporters.
However, that could be boosted by player sales with significant interest in several members of the squad at Auchenhowie.
49ers to sanction £70m budget for Martin
The £20m injection may not be enough to get the squad where it needs to be to challenge Brendan Rodgers’ side and departures may be allowed as a result.
Nico Raskin and Mohamed Diomande are attracting attention from the Premier League and the Light Blues could probably fetch at least £30m by selling the duo.
| Stats (Scottish Premiership) | Raskin | Diomande |
| Matches | 33 | 36 |
| Goals | 4 | 4 |
| Assists | 10 | 7 |
| Minutes played | 2,628 | 2,643 |
Hamza Igamane is another Rangers ace who is expected to have suitors in the market and a fee of £15m would probably tempt the Govan side into parting ways with the Moroccan, who struggled towards the end of the season.
Finally, Cyriel Dessers is a target for Greek side AEK Athens, and realistically, the Gers could command around £5m for his services, if they allow him to leave after notching 18 goals in the league.
With the initial budget and those potential sales factored in, that would give Martin a huge kitty to utilise to bridge the gap to their Glasgow rivals and blow any previous budgets out of the water.
It may be a tough task to replace them given the impact that those players had this season, despite the dismal campaign under Philippe Clement and Ferguson but surely with £70m at his disposal, the former Southampton manager could do it.