Dundee hope to sign Rangers midfielder Ben Williamson permanently in the January transfer window, according to a report from Football Scotland.

The 21-year-old midfielder has been on loan at Dens Park this season and has made 19 appearances since joining last summer.

He is not in Michael Beale’s future plans, and the Gers are ready to allow the player’s exit from Ibrox this month.

They have encouraged Dundee to keep Williamson beyond their loan spell. The Championship club won’t have to pay any fee to land their man, but they could face competition from England’s League One clubs.

Rangers have also told Josh McPake and Kai Kennedy to find new clubs this window.

Good decision

It’s a good decision taken by the club. Williamson is a talented young player but he is probably not good enough to play for Rangers.

A product of the club’s youth academy, he has never made any senior appearance for the Gers. He spent loan spells at Arbroath, Livingston, Raith Rovers, and Dundee in his career so far. 

Beale has got a wealth of options in midfield and Williamson doesn’t feature in the manager’s plans. In such a scenario, moving away from Ibrox is the best decision, and it suits all parties involved. 

Rangers have made one signing in January so far. Todd Cantwell has arrived from Norwich City this month, but Beale is looking to add more players to the squad. 

Belgian talent Nicolas Raskin has been heavily linked with a move this month, but so far the Gers haven’t been able to reach an agreement. 

With only a few days left, Rangers need to be very active in the market if they want to bolster the squad. 

In other Rangers news, a club in Europe holds the option to re-sign a player from Ibrox whenever they like.

This article was originally posted here

Rangers must ship out Swedish defender Filip Helander this summer when his contract expires, despite public backing from Michael Beale.

The 29-year-old central defender is a class player, and Beale has hailed him as a “big asset”, but he has faced an injury nightmare in the past two years.

He hasn’t played since April of last year and is currently out with a foot problem that required surgery.

The former Bologna defender is out-of-contract this summer and many fans expect that his spell in Glasgow will come to an abrupt end.

He made only five starts under previous manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst and is two to three months away from getting back to full fitness. Due to his injury problems, the club cannot discuss a contract extension with him, and to be fair, he should be allowed to leave in the summer.

“Listen, if the Fil Helander I know can get himself back then he’s a big asset to Rangers. He has had two horrible years of injuries. I’ve not been in the building when he’s had them but at 29 I don’t think he is done,” said Beale, as quoted by Glasgow World.

“Fil has probably got to prove a couple of things to himself more than anything else. I mean that in the sense of returning and staying fit for a period of time.

“Hopefully that will happen towards the real back end of the season. In terms of his contract, at this moment in time there have been no discussions with Fil, purely because of the length of time he’s been our injured.

“He’ll be feeling a lot of frustration, a lot of regret. He missed the qualifying for the World Cup, then they don’t make the World Cup. He would have wanted to have made more of an impact with his national team.”

The defence is one area that Rangers seriously need to address next summer. On paper, Beale has loads of options.

The Gers boss has the likes of Connor Goldson, Ben Davies, John Souttar, and James Sands at his disposal. Rising talent Leon King is another option for him.

But Souttar has barely featured this season and there are concerns over his fitness. There is no guarantee that he can stay fit for the entire season, despite his obvious talent.

It is also unclear whether Rangers will sign Sands permanently. He has done well during his loan spell, but the Gers may decide to not sign him.

In such a scenario, keeping a player like Helander could be very risky. He has done extremely well when fit, but the club must sentiment aside, and be practical in their outlook.

Beale said positive things because he believes the defender can still play some part. He needs to boost his morale, but at the same time, there is no easy way to sort out his future.

Even if he returns after three months, it’s hard to expect that he will be in his best physical shape. How games will he play? Most importantly, can Beale afford to break his regular centre-back partnership to give him more game time, especially towards the business end of the season?

It’s a tough call, but the club must reject the idea of offering him a new deal at Ibrox.

In other Rangers news, a club in Europe holds the option to re-sign a player from Ibrox whenever they like.

This article was originally posted here

Rangers have seen a £440,000 bid for Nicolas Raskin rejected by Standard Liege as the Jupiler League side look for upwards of £1.7m, according to Belgium journalist, Kevin Sauvage.

The Daily Record reportedthe Gers had seen a “high six-figure” bid rejected by Liege as they try to seal a deadline-busting move for the 21-year-old midfielder.

Sauvage, who writes for Belgium news publication DH les Sports, has revealed (via Twitter, 27 January) the Light Blues’ bid was actually in the region of £440,000.

“Raskin: First offer of Rangers FC (£440k ) refused by Standard RSCL who wants £1.76m,” he wrote.

Push on

If the Gers’ first bid was really that low then they need to be careful. Raskin may well be keen to leave the Jupiler League side, but he is still a talented player and they will be looking to get the correct valuation.

It’s understandable to see why Rangers’ first offer was so low. It gives them a lot more room to manoeuvre in terms of negotiations and could allow them to secure a good value deal for the Belgium under-21 international.

However, time is currently against the Scottish club. The January window has only a matter of days left and this isn’t a move the board will want to see head into deadline day.

Anything can happen in the last days of the window and leaving it late could see the deal fall foul at the final hurdle. If Michale Beale can land Raskin is would’ve been an impressive first window. Todd Cantwell has already come through the door, in what is a big injection of quality into the Light Blues’ squad.

Fans will be hoping there’s at least one more piece of business to be conducted before the window slams shut.

In other Rangers news, Fabrizio Romano has reported the club are going to make another attempt to sign an additional player this month who already wants to come.

This article was originally posted here