The Daily Mail today reports/claims that Rangers are once again interested in Queens Park Rangers and Scotland striker Lyndon Dykes.

We are unaware that is this is even remotely true, and believe it falls under lazy reporting following his fine goal v Norway, and the Michael Beale link regarding the Ibrox manager’s former club.

The likelihood of any truth in this story is minimal, simply on the basis that Dykes has already strongly condemned Beale for his Loftus Road departure, cryptically calling him a ‘snake’, in sentiments echoed by many QPR fans and those associated with the club.

So there’s no love lost by the Aussie-born Scotland international, and his record for QPR isn’t exactly sensational either:

As a centre-forward, 29 goals and 11 assists in 120 Championship appearances for a club with very little pressure on it is not an impressive return, and his record for his country isn’t a tonne better either, with 9 in 29.

The 27-year-old has a market value in the region of £2M, and he would absolutely be the cheap option these days if Beale was actually interested in him, but Rangers can do a lot better now than Dykes, whose Scottish Premiership time has been and gone with Livingston.

We were all for signing him back in the day when Steven Gerrard inexplicably went for Switzerland’s Cedric Itten instead, in a signing which absolutely didn’t work out, as the Gold Coast man went off south to Mark Warburton’s team instead.

But today we’re looking to seriously challenge for the title and make a fist of the Champions League – players of Dykes’ calibre fall short and aren’t strong enough for what Rangers’ levels need to be.

We’re taking a serious step up, and a club that is looking seriously at guys like Haji Wright and Jose Cifuentes would really be taking a bizarre downgrade to make a move for Dykes unless he’s for squad depth, in which case on that level we could do worse we suppose.

But as a major marquee striker, not a chance, and he doesn’t even like Michael Beale anyway.