Rangers and Celtic are in the hunt to sign Sunderland forward Josh Maja, who is out of contract at the end of the season, according to the Sunday People.
The newspaper claimed in it’s print edition [page 49, January 20] that the Black Cats are ready to offload the 20-year-old this month, but only if they he is loaned back to them.
It is understood that Maja has already rejected a new £6,000-a-week deal at the Stadium of Light and he is attracting attention from across the UK and Germany.
West Ham, Middlesbrough, Cologne, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart and the two Glasgow clubs are said to be eyeing up the in-form centre-forward.
Good move for Rangers?
Maja would be available for a low compensation fee and given his excellent form in England’s League One this season, he is a signing that Steven Gerrard should be pushing to make.
The London-born striker has scored 16 goals in 30 appearances across all competitions for Sunderland this season and with constant speculation about the future of Alfredo Morelos, it is a good idea to keep an eye on potential replacements.
Jermain Defoe and Kyle Lafferty are both the wrong side of 30, so Maja would be a good understudy who could provide solid back-up to Gerrard’s current frontmen.
Loaning him back to Sunderland could be a good idea, so this is definitely a deal that Rangers should be looking to pull off ahead of Celtic.
This is Futbol rating 8/10
Likely to happen?
So many clubs are interested in signing Maja.
Moving to Germany is a more attractive prospect for young English players after seeing Jadon Sancho’s success at Borussia Dortmund, while West Ham would mean Maja can move to the Premier League and Middlesbrough would offer him the chance to move to a club near to where he is currently based.
It’s hard to see Rangers or Celtic winning his signature.
This is Futbol rating 2/10