Winner named in Rangers, Stoke City and Shrewsbury Town race to sign Michael Parker
Rangers, Stoke City and West Brom have lost out in the race to sign defender Michael Parker with Shrewsbury Town confirming the deal.
In their official statement released on the afternoon of 30 May, the English club confirmed that the aforementioned three sides were beaten in the race to sign the 18-year-old.
After a successful trial at Shrewsbury where the English defender impressed the staff, he was signed permanently and an announcement has now been made.
Bizarre
It's rare to see clubs name-dropping other sides in their statements after they've just announced a new signing.
Usually, they keep it simple and give a background about the player and their pursuit of getting the deal over the line.
However, they go on to mention the three clubs that were keen on signing the 18-year-old, with Rangers clearly the biggest among them.
This was perhaps to show their fans that they've got a decent pulling power otherwise it does not make any sense to name other clubs.
Regardless, if he picks a third tier team in England over one of the United Kingdom's biggest clubs, then it's his loss.
Rangers already have a number of quality young players who will soon be in contention for the first team so they mustn't fret too much about not signing Parker.