Alex Rae has praised Rangers for selling players shrewdly in recent times, such as Antonio Colak to Parma and imminently Scott Wright to Pendikspor which both earned a (small) profit, but urged a bit more urgency when it comes to the big sales, following the losses on both Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent, and Finland’s Glen Kamara.
Speaking to New Slot Klosh and Ibrox Noise, the Rangers legend said:
“They are moving players on with Antonio Colak signing for Parma – and they made a profit too – with Scott Wright seemingly going to Turkey, so that’s smart business.”
But urged that better business should see the likes of Borna Barisic and John Lundstram tied down or sold, in light of the transfer sales failures of recent times:
“I’m not too keen to see players going into the last year of their contracts. Rangers were burned badly over Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent and they can’t let that happen again. Players in that situation have one eye on their next move so how focused can they possibly be with that distraction? Hopefully lessons are learned and there are decisions to be made. Both Lundstram and Barisic are going into the last year of their deals so the club must either offer them extensions or cash in.
Speaking further on the defender and midfielder he said:
“I understand there have been talks with Barisic but I’m not so sure about Lundstram. You don’t want this situation to drag on so action needs to be taken. They need to make their minds up on these players and if it’s decided they should be sold then try to get good value and re-invest in the squad.
He also had more than a word on the Glen Kamara situation, with the Fin close to his long-awaited exit from Ibrox, despite the £10M bid from Nice:
“Rangers also need to sell Glen Kamara and get as much as they can for him. I see he has been linked with a loan move to Besiktas but I don’t think that’s of benefit to either side. He still has value as he proved his quality in the title-winning season and the European run the season before last but for whatever reason it just didn’t happen for him last term.”
He’s not wrong with any of this – Rangers’ business in the transfer window for sales has been pretty poor overall, even taking into account the staggering 12 months which saw Steven Gerrard, Nathan Patterson, Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo all sold for huge money – the amount of players in the same ballpark of value who were let go for no money at all, such as Kent and Morelos, sadly undermines the good work.
So the sooner Rangers sell or extend the better, because Lunny and Barisic (and Kamara) cannot run down their contracts as well.