It appears Burnley boss Vincent Kompany’s bid to secure Rangers’ Ryan Kent is not quite over the line, after early discussions did not yet finalise a deal amid Turkish giants Fenerbahce making a move as well on the Ibrox side’s wantaway winger.
Kent, 26, has only spoken about his future once, and was completely non-committal on his career with Rangers, saying only that he would sit down and speak with Michael Beale soon.
Those talks have already taken place, over the last international break, and Beale, saying too much as always, has dropped the biggest hints possible that Kent will leave Ibrox.
He said:
“We’ve had discussions around it and we’ve both parked everything until we’ve found a moment. We’ll sit and have another chat. We’re both cool, we’re both on the same page and I think it’s right after the amount of years he’s been here and the changes with his third manager here as well that he takes time to consider his options. It’s the same that we do as well. We’ve not put anything in front of him, we’ve just had conversations, at this moment in time that’s the best place to be. Is Ryan Kent playing very well at this moment in time? Yes, so there’s no issue. We just keep moving forward, I’m still building the squad that I want for next year and if he’s in it’s because he desperately wants to be here. If he’s out it’s because he doesn’t so it’s quite clear in that sense. Our relationship will always remain the same. It’s a young boy that I saw at the start of his journey so I’m quite proud with what he’s achieved so far in his career.”
The key parts here? ‘We’re both on the same page’ is the big quote Beale keeps pulling out about Kent, which means they both know the same outcome – the outcome being Kent’s exit. Then his further comments about changing managers and time to consider options, a combination of truth and complete waffle as our manager is wont to do.
And so Burnley, Leeds and now the Turks are looking at him, all of whom want the lucrative free agent.
Burnley remain front-runners but no precontract yet – they’ve initiated discussions but nothing is signed, and Kent clearly wants to see what all his options will be.
Maybe he fancies a trip to the Mediterranean, who knows.
But we’d be staggered if he’s still a Rangers player next season.