Rangers first-team star rejects new deal; reports

Rangers fans will be pleased that James Tavernier and Josh Windass are officially tied down to new deals, but in slightly more worrying news, David Bates has reportedly rejected a number of offers to extend his deal beyond the summer.

The 21-year old stopper has had a strong start to life at Ibrox as a permanent first-team fixture, especially since the departure of Danny Wilson and the disappearance of Bruno Alves, but Rangers’ attempts to tie him down to a longer deal have as yet failed to secure his signature.

Naturally, it must be remembered this has mixed ramifications. Sometimes players will reject deals in attempts to negotiate better offers, and when James Tavernier rejected a deal many months ago, well, that got remedied very recently – but from a more negative point of view Barrie McKay also rejected a new deal and never had any intention of signing up.

Bates for his part is a promising centre half but not the final product yet – and there is an underlying feeling among some portions of the support that he is long term not good enough to be a Rangers defender. Others feel he has proven himself.

Either way, right now, he is destined to leave this summer unless Rangers offer him what he thinks he is worth.