Rangers Review writer Jonny McFarlane believes that the club will be seeking a buyer for Filip Helander behind the scenes this summer.
The Swedish centre-half has played just 36 Scottish Premiership appearances for the Gers in three seasons at Ibrox and just 60 times in total during an injury-ravaged time in Glasgow.
Last term he played just 11 times as after returning from knee surgery and 150 days out of action he sustained a foot injury in April which ruled him for the rest of the campaign.
Now following the arrival of Ben Davies for £4m to add to the signing of John Souttar earlier this summer, the Light Blues are pretty stacked at central defence with many natural options to chose from.
And with Davies being left-footed McFarlane feels Giovanni van Bronckhorst can afford to let Helander go.
Would Filip Helander start if he was fit?
Yes
No
Speaking on the Rangers Review YouTube channel he said: “Helander, [Nikola] Katic, I think if the club can move them on they will.
“I think they’ll actively try to move them on. Whether or not you’re able to get somebody for Helander, who’s a very, very good player, of course, I don’t know.
“The only caveat to that would be if Van Bronckhorst has decided he’s going to move to a three more often. And maybe he’ll think he might want to keep Helander around for that.
“But Leon King can play left-sided very comfortably, we’ve seen him play left-back. So I think Leon King is likely to be the sort of number two in that in that slot.
He concluded: “I just think that’s something Ross Wilson will be working on, there’s no doubt about that.”
TIF Thoughts on Helander and Rangers…
Will Rangers still sign a left-back after Davies?
Yes
No
While McFarlane made the point that Van Bronckhorst could switch to back three more often it doesn’t seem as though that would be the case considering the Dutch manager tweaked his formation to that style just once in four seasons at Feyenoord and is something he is yet to trial at Ibrox.
Helander does also seem like the most likely to appear on the chopping block too as he has missed 64 games through injury during his three-year period with the Teddy Bears to date.
He can’t seem to keep himself healthy and while there are also question marks over the recently arrived Souttar considering his fitness issues in the past, the Dutch manager won’t want to have two centre-backs permanently on the physio table.
At 29 and with just one year left on his contract, it could be the right time to look for a buyer for Helander, but whether or not Ross Wilson can find a bidder remains to be seen.