OPINION
The door has opened for Rangers to make a perfectly-timed swoop to re-sign Steven Davis in the January window.
The Northern Ireland international did not burn any bridges when he quit Ibrox to join Southampton for £900,000 in 2012 after five mighty fine seasons as a star man under Walter Smith.
Rangers have been strongly linked with taking the central midfielder back to Glasgow, with the Belfast Telegraph reporting plans are under way for a loan-to-buy deal.
Davis has made just four appearances for Southampton this season and, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season, he is coming to the end of his time on the south coast.
The 105-times Northern Ireland international may turn 34 on New Year’s Day, but he would be a brilliant short-term signing and it is a measure of his ability that Mark Hughes refused to strike a deal in the summer when the Light Blues first came calling.
The timing is better now ahead of the mid-season window, as the Times report Southampton are “planning to sell players to raise money to fund new signings”.
It is said that new owner Gao Jisheng has made it clear to Southampton’s management team that there will have to be sales, “leading them to begin circulating the names of unwanted players to European clubs”.
Rangers must pounce to land Davis for a second time after initially paying £3.4million for him in 2008.
He is a class act with energy to burn and the technical ability and inventiveness to create and score goals from the centre of the pitch, something that Steven Gerrard doesn’t really have in his current squad.