Scott Paterson, William Boyd and Willy Irwin discussed all of the latest Rangers news on the most recent edition of the This Is Ibrox podcast and spent some time speculating over the respective futures of Rangers duo James Tavernier and Connor Goldson during the show.
Both Goldson and Rangers captain Tavernier are currently under contract with the Glasgow club until the end of May 2022. It may be fair to say that the two Englishmen have been key members of Steven Gerrard’s squad this term, as both men have featured in each of the Gers’ 20 games in all competitions during the 2020/21 campaign.
However, while discussing the two players’ futures during this recent edition of the This Is Ibrox podcast, Irwin shared some concern about the duo, indicating that he thinks they may want to leave Ibrox and join a team in the English Premier League if they have ambitions to get into the English national team or if they want to earn more money, saying:
“If they’ve got that [a national team call-up] in their mind, then they’re probably not going to get it playing for Rangers in Scotland because I just don’t think they see the quality of football up here as being enough to play for England.
“The counter-argument to that could be, well, James Tavernier’s been excellent in Europe, Connor Goldson’s been excellent in Europe, but I think it’s just always kind of looked upon as a lesser quality league.
“I think the problem that Rangers are going to have, is that when you look at Goldson and Tav, I would imagine that they’re on reasonably good wages right now – if they wanted one or two final pays before they retire, can Rangers afford to keep both players? I think that’s the only worry, if I’m totally honest.
“Connor would be a monster loss given he seems to be a leader now in that group. I do worry a wee bit, to be honest, because at the end of the day, a lot of these guys do see the pinnacle as playing in the EPL, and if the opportunity arose and the money is right, I think it would be difficult for either player to say no to it. The money in England can sometimes be two or three times what we can pay guys and that can be life-changing.”
Do you think Tavernier and Goldson will be at Rangers beyond the length of their current contracts?
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TIF Thoughts on what Irwin had to say about Tavernier and Goldson…
According to Salarysport.com, Goldson’s weekly wage is £27k, while Gers captain Tavernier allegedly earns £14k per week. Meanwhile, according to the 2019 Global Sports Salary Survey, as per the Daily Express, the average weekly wage of a player in the English Premier League was £61,024 per week last year.
So, it may be fair to say that despite both men being key players for Rangers, who sit atop the Premiership at present, it would seem that both of them earn far less than the average Premier League player, and so it may be understandable why Irwin does seem to have some concerns over the two players’ futures – and it will be interesting to see if speculation increases around the futures of Tavernier and Goldson as we get closer to the expiration of their respective contracts in under two years’ time.