The Spring & Summer 2019 Transfer Rumours Thread

[JFK-1 1,671]

Rangers are ready to sell striker Joe Dodoo this summer after Steven Gerrard made up his mind to let him go, Football Insider understands.

 

The Light Blues manager considers the attacker, 23, surplus to requirements and has sanctioned a permanent sale rather than another loan move.

 

Ibrox sources have told Football Insider that the club will now listen to offers for Dodoo, who has struggled to make an impact since signing from Leicester City three years ago on a free contract.

 

The attacker, 23, had a creditable campaign at English League One club Blackpool last season, scoring six goals and supplying four assists in 25 appearances in all competitions.

 

But Gerrard considers the club to have superior striker options irrespective of whether main man Alfredo Morelos remains beyond the summer window.

 

Dodoo, who was brought to Rangers by Mark Warburton in 2016, has one more year remaining on his contract at the club.

 

Capped by England at Under-18 level, he scored five goals in 27 appearances for Rangers but has spent the last two seasons on loan at Blackpool and Charlton Athletic.

 

Rangers will now listen to offers for Dodoo this summer, with English lower league clubs set to be interested in the versatile attacker, who can play down the middle and on both flanks.

 

https://www.footballinsider247.com/rangers-to-sell-striker-after-gerrard-makes-up-his-mind-ibrox-sources/

[buster. 4,808]

One thing SG&Co and Mark Allen/Football Operation realised before they took over at Ibrox was the need to do the transfer business early and have as many of your planned squad at your pre-season training camp as possible....I think this was a vitally important factor in our European run last season.

 

Rather than trying to analyse individual players from videos, I think that is the biggest plus as we approach another season.

 

That said, we are much more liable to receive bids for our players this summer than 12 months ago and that might cause some upheaval.

 

 

[buster. 4,808]

17 hours ago, DMAA said:

McPake was too old for the Alkass tournament but played all over Europe with the youths last season and will be well known to these big clubs. We need to keep hold of him, he's the long term answer to our no 10 problem in my opinion and won't cost us anything. 

Agree,...keeping hold of him will obviously depend a lot on how the lad and his advisor/agent see the future.

 

One thing the Turnbull tansfer saga shows is a 19 year old provincial Scot able to effectively price himself out of the reach of Celtic. Taken alone, that is a positive for us but the bigger picture is more about how the financial gulf is affecting the market in the UK and it won't have gone unnoticed by McPake.

[DMAA 3,603]

3 hours ago, buster. said:

Agree,...keeping hold of him will obviously depend a lot on how the lad and his advisor/agent see the future.

 

One thing the Turnbull tansfer saga shows is a 19 year old provincial Scot able to effectively price himself out of the reach of Celtic. Taken alone, that is a positive for us but the bigger picture is more about how the financial gulf is affecting the market in the UK and it won't have gone unnoticed by McPake.

Turnbull has shown again althat 19 isn’t too young if you have the talent. McPake is about to turn 18 and imo could be ready for loan because when he reaches 19 I’d hope to see him making the bench. 

[der Berliner 3,240]

Our "problem" - as well as that of lesser clubs, just vice versa - is that we require players of a certain standard, players to win games and titles instantly. While clubs like Motherwell or Killie don't have the money and have to breed and play youngsters, ours have to be that extra wee bit special to impress the manager and get into a first team of seasoned pros .... where ironically "a seasoned pro" might just be someone of the same age group, but who - out of necessity - saw years of competitive football.

 

IMHO, it was a major development that the season before last as well as this upcoming season, our "B" side and the youngsters will play against international teams, so they can hone their skills (or show their deficiencies) at a level far higher than what they would face in the reserve league.

 

We should accept that we will not blood too many youngsters again, as we, the support, will demand success and instantly. Youngsters will provide a spark here and there, but unless they come with some extra skill and some nerves too, they will be sparsely used.

[Bill 13,717]

27 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

Our "problem" - as well as that of lesser clubs, just vice versa - is that we require players of a certain standard, players to win games and titles instantly. While clubs like Motherwell or Killie don't have the money and have to breed and play youngsters, ours have to be that extra wee bit special to impress the manager and get into a first team of seasoned pros .... where ironically "a seasoned pro" might just be someone of the same age group, but who - out of necessity - saw years of competitive football.

 

IMHO, it was a major development that the season before last as well as this upcoming season, our "B" side and the youngsters will play against international teams, so they can hone their skills (or show their deficiencies) at a level far higher than what they would face in the reserve league.

 

We should accept that we will not blood too many youngsters again, as we, the support, will demand success and instantly. Youngsters will provide a spark here and there, but unless they come with some extra skill and some nerves too, they will be sparsely used.

We shouldn't just be developing young players to play in our first team. They're also a trading commodity and a potential source of significant income for years to come, even if they never play first team football for Rangers..

[stewarty 1,876]

32 minutes ago, Bill said:

We shouldn't just be developing young players to play in our first team. They're also a trading commodity and a potential source of significant income for years to come, even if they never play first team football for Rangers..

Great point.

And one that I think is encouraging about the re-focused youth development strategy we are putting in place.  The emphasis appears to be not only on developing players for the first team but also on developing young men and preparing them for a career in football, regardless whether that is with us.

 

For me the challenge now is to monetise those young players to reinvest by regularly generating loan and transfer fees where we can.

[DMAA 3,603]

53 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

While clubs like Motherwell or Killie don't have the money and have to breed and play youngsters, ours have to be that extra wee bit special to impress the manager and get into a first team of seasoned pros

This theory only applies to a degree imo. It's true that youngsters can become first team regulars more easily when the quality of player is lower. However I don't really agree that it's easier for Motherwell or Hearts to blood youngsters than us. I can't remember the exact number but we won something like 15 games by at least 3 goals last season. I imagine Levein would love to be able to ease his youngsters in in those circumstances rather than chucking them in in what are almost always very close games which could result in Hearts dropping down the table. We could easily have given our youngsters loads of game time last season if we wanted to and we'd know far more about them. The problem is we've left no space in the squad for them.

[stewarty 1,876]

1 minute ago, DMAA said:

This theory only applies to a degree imo. It's true that youngsters can become first team regulars more easily when the quality of player is lower. However I don't really agree that it's easier for Motherwell or Hearts to blood youngsters than us. I can't remember the exact number but we won something like 15 games by at least 3 goals last season. I imagine Levein would love to be able to ease his youngsters in in those circumstances rather than chucking them in in what are almost always very close games which could result in Hearts dropping down the table. We could easily have given our youngsters loads of game time last season if we wanted to and we'd know far more about them. The problem is we've left no space in the squad for them.

Arguably by pitting those young players into games which are tighter, where the competition and consequences are real, is likely to increase the pace of development and allow the likes of Motherwell or Hearts to focus on those players who have the extra mental application that is needed to succeed at any level.  

[DMAA 3,603]

12 minutes ago, stewarty said:

Arguably by pitting those young players into games which are tighter, where the competition and consequences are real, is likely to increase the pace of development and allow the likes of Motherwell or Hearts to focus on those players who have the extra mental application that is needed to succeed at any level.  

Yes but the point made is really that Rangers can't risk playing these youngsters because we demand the highest standards whereas at Motherwell and Hearts it doesn't matter. This argument doesn't stand up scrutiny because those clubs take a big risk playing youngsters in tight and tough games where there is a lot to lose. Motherwell were 9th and not far off the play-off spot when they started playing Turnbull and Hastie. They are never cruising at 3-4 nil up with half an hour to play like we are. The point about regular first team football does apply of course but it's not true that it's harder for us to give them chances to play.