Having been thrown out of the UEFA Champions League, Rangers will attempt to complete the signing of Leicester City defender Harry Souttar before the transfer window closes tonight but there is one major stumbling block to the deal.
The Daily Echo first reported Rangers’ interest in the Australian centre-back earlier this week and Wednesday night’s heavy 5-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven further supported the claim that defensive reinforcements are needed at Ibrox before the deadline passes.
The Scotsman has revealed that the Scottish giants are still interested in signing the central defender but only a loan deal will suffice this late in the window. Harry’s brother John started at the heart of the Rangers defence in mid-week at the Philips Stadion.
However, according to The 4th Official, Michael Beale will only be given the green light to complete a deal for Souttar should Ben Davies leave the club before 11pm tonight but the outlet are also claiming that the former Liverpool centre-half isn’t keen to move elsewhere.
On an exclusive Patreon post, T4O wrote [quotes via Rangers News]:
“Rangers still want to offload Ben Davies but it seems the player is definitely not keen.
“And according to a couple of my sources, that’s the reason the deal with Harry Souttar is hanging in the balance.”
Stoke City have been in talks with Rangers today to sign Davies on loan for the rest of the season but the player’s £27k weekly wages, as per Salary Sport, are making any potential deal incredibly difficult at this stage, according to Football Scotland.
Writer’s View
Wages seem to be the main problem here for Rangers. In order for Souttar to come through the door within the next twelve hours, some space needs to be freed up on the books.
Davies is currently on 27k per week, making the Welshman one of the highest earners at Ibrox and potentially putting a stop to the loan acquisition of Souttar.
