Rangers have secured their first signing of the winter window after agreeing a fee with Norwich to have Todd Cantwell released immediately, and subject to a medical, the 24-year-old midfielder will be a Rangers player before the end of the week.
It has been confirmed that Rangers’ bid, which at this stage is unclear, has been accepted after a reported Blackburn Rovers bid was rejected in the reputed region of £1.5M, meaning Rangers may have bid up to £2M on Cantwell to have his signature now.
Which means Rangers fans finally get their first winter signing, three weeks in, after Cantwell accepted Rangers’ offer and Norwich then accepted the price to let him go north as of now.
It means Rangers will not have to wait till the summer to have Cantwell, and unlike the John Souttar fiasco, have been able to agree a fee with the current club to have the player come to Ibrox imminently.
He is very much a player Michael Beale likes a lot, having spoken at length about him this window, but his provocative tones in a recent press conference appear to have helped Cantwell make up his mind that Rangers was where he wants to be.
And so it has played out – with Rangers certainly bidding a significant amount for the £10M-rated player, who many Norwich fans consider to be untapped potential that just never worked out at Carrow Road.
Ibrox Noise reported some time ago that this was an exceptional player who just hadn’t quite achieved what he’d have believed he should, and with the right environment could well be a special player indeed and realising his quality.
It should not be too long before Michael Beale’s main January priority is being paraded in Govan as a Rangers player after the club decided to bid what Norwich wanted for his services, having being reticent to do so previously.
Rangers now have a very strong midfield, with Cantwell’s presence a certain starter going forward and marks Michael Beale’s first signing as Rangers manager – just await now the official confirmation coming through.
Let’s hope this signing from Carrow Road works out a lot better than the last two…