Rangers must sort out Ross McCausland’s contract quickly or risk losing him to Premier League stalwarts Brentford who are watching Rangers’ in-form and rising star.
The Premier League outfit are very keen on the attacker, who has shone on his appearances for both club and country since breaking through under Philippe Clement, and now Thomas Frank, one of the best-rated managers in England’s top flight, is said to be interested in in bringing him south on what would be a shocker cut-price deal thanks to FIFA cross-border laws for U24s.
Indeed, despite Rangers already rating the Northern Ireland winger at well beyond £5M, Brentford would snare him for barely a fraction of that at around £300K due to those development rules when players pass the border in either direction at younger ages.
Rangers have benefited from this many times – Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey two prime examples, but have also lost out on it for the same reason. And this would be another big casualty.
A three-year contract is said to be on the table from Ibrox bosses who are immensely keen on securing McCausland long-term, but it hasn’t been sealed and approved yet which is giving Brentford an opening.
Of course, it could be agent talk, leaking out other club interest in order to get their client the deal they want from their current club. Norwich’s Kenny MacLean and his agent did it recently, using Rangers’ name to get the new contract from Carrow Road, and Scotty Arfield did it last season using some Turkish clubs to get a new one-year offering at Ibrox.
But this kid really is getting big interest from major sides, and if a cash-rich team like Brentford come in, with a huge offer for the kid, he’s going to struggle to say no to that.
And Rangers would only get barely half a million for him.
This is one to watch, and get sorted, ASAP.