Rangers Review writer Jonny McFarlane has suggested that the club may need to sell their key assets this summer.
It has already been a productive window for the Gers having signed PFA team of the season representative John Souttar from Hearts on a pre-agreement back in January with the centre-back linking up with the club this summer.
Moreover, the delightful news that the colossal Connor Goldson extended his deal by four years when it looked like he could have been heading to Nottingham Forest was music to supporters’ ears but the club have other areas where they need to improve and they may need to sell before they can buy.
Calvin Bassey is one name linked with a move away with the left-sided defender thought to be a ‘key target’ for Aston Villa and former manager Steven Gerrard according to Sky Sports.
The report claimed that the Ibrox club were seeking a record £25m fee to let the 22-year-old go and McFarlane feels it is the right time to cash in and use the money to reinvest in the squad.
Speaking on the Rangers Review YouTube channel, he said:
“Rangers need to, as part of their business model, sell players, right? So this summer, there’s going to be a painful departure or two, there’s no doubt about it – and I actually think the club needs to do this.
“Not because it needs it financially, but because it needs to freshen up the areas of the team that needs freshening up, and that is the forward areas. You can’t do that for brass buttons; you can’t do that on the cheap, it needs a bit of investment.
“For me, I really think that Calvin Bassey, if you get that kind of money that Rangers I think are looking for – the kind of £25m mark – it’s probably a perfect time to sell.”
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TIF Thoughts on letting Bassey go…
In January, the Light Blues received their biggest transfer fee to date when they sold Nathan Patterson to Everton in a deal worth up to £16m, which just goes to show how far a £25m sum could go for the Gers if they were to let the Nigerian international leave.
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A thigh injury that required surgery for Alfredo Morelos left Givoanni van Bronckhorst short of options up front with Kemar Roofe also dealing with injury and the manager seemingly unwilling to play Cedric Itten during the home stretch of the season with the Swiss striker departing this week.
Joe Aribo was deployed as unnatural centre-forward but with his, Morelos and Ryan Kent’s contracts all running into their final year, Ross Wilson has a very precarious job on his hands trying to refresh that frontline.
A substantial sum of money for the sale of one of their most valuable assets could be necessary to facilitate that reshuffle as McFarlane has referenced but it remains to be seen which approach the club decide to take.