Atalanta are set to offer a £3M bid for Ross McCausland in January, if the playmaker hasn’t sealed a new contract by then, according to Ibrox Noise sources in Italy.

The attacker, out of contract next summer, is vulnerable to to Premier League sides at a modest £300,000 due to cross-border rules on U24s and development fees, but the Italian side, keen on McCausland and rivalled in Serie A by Jose Mourinho’s Roma for his signature, are hoping to steal a march on the transfer hunt by convincing Rangers to accept their interest before he’s out of contract.

McCausland is free to discuss with any club in January, and sign a precontract if he doesn’t sign a new Rangers deal before then.

Atalanta don’t want to lose out on the playmaker to a Premier League club for nothing in the summer or lose him for a modest number to one in January, and are willing to invest a bit more earlier to nab the boy’s signature, in line with a tonne of Scottish-based players moving to Serie A in recent years.

If McCausland doesn’t sign a new deal soon, it would leave Rangers with a decision to make should the Italian side make the bid in January, because while his potential value is much higher than £3M, that’s a heck of a fee for a player 6 months to go on his deal.

But of course, the Northern Ireland international would have to have agreed a precontract first, for the Italians to know bidding £3M to free him in January would be worth the investment.

What Rangers know though is we do hold all the cards – just get the boy signed up and Atalanta won’t be a problem.