As Ibrox Noise has reported repeatedly in recent weeks, Rangers and John Lundstram agreed in principle some time ago a new deal.
The conspicuous silence and lack of an announcement officially from Rangers is that the actual offer Rangers have given Lundstram isn’t acceptable to the player yet, with Ibrox Noise sources telling us the club have offered the ex-Sheffield enforcer the same wage he is currently on.
That is a salary of around £22,000 pw, and it appears to be a take or leave offer from Rangers who have made the decision, for now, that the trading model and Lundstram’s age cannot justify a wage increase to the purported £30,000 he is understood to want.
With manager Philippe Clement notably reducing the age of the squad, it will take a special player over 25 for the manager to be interested in signing this summer, so for any current squad member out of contract and the wrong side of 30, their bargaining chips with Rangers are much less.
And after what happened with Connor Goldson and his £40K 4-year deal, Rangers simply won’t make that error again.
Word is Lunny is looking at other options now as well, he doesn’t want to leave Rangers but he wants to be paid what he believes he is worth, which is around £30K a week.
Rangers made huge mistakes with Goldson then Danilo, and certainly can’t justify a big fat wage on a guy going into his 30s who will offer no return on that investment.
We all know Lunny’s a great player, but giving him an increase is a one-way investment, and the club’s trading model would have to offer a massive exception on giving him what he wants.
So it is a bit of stalemate for now – Rangers are unlikely to sweeten the pot much, but really don’t want to lose Lunny. He wants more, but really doesn’t want to leave.
So we have a frustrating situation – where no one is in the wrong, but it’s beginning to look like Rangers might actually lose Lundstram.
He doesn’t want to go, but he wants to earn what he believes his value is now, and he’d have to go to the Premier League for that.
Not his preference, but not a bad plan B.
We’ll see more on this one in due course.