Rangers interested in £6M Standard Liege star

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Rangers interested in £6M Standard Liege star
Standard's Belgian goalkeeper #16 goalkeeper Arnaud Bodart throws the ball during the Belgian Pro League play-off football match between Standard de Liege and Oud-Heverlee Leuven at the Maurice-Dufrasne stadium in Liege on April 6, 2024. (Photo by BRUNO FAHY / Belga / AFP) / Belgium OUT (Photo by BRUNO FAHY/Belga/AFP via Getty Images)

As mentioned earlier, the arrival at Ibrox of ex-Antwerp man Anthony Galinski has immediately brought a link, in Standard Liege stopper Arnaud Bodart, 26.

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The Belgian U21 international goalkeeper, with a proper market value of around £6M, is under contract till the summer of 2025, so he wouldn’t be pennies, but good old amortisation kicks in and his current fee would be a lot less than what he’s worth – Rangers would hope to secure him for potentially half or even less of that.

Of course, the immediate question is about Jack Butland – well ‘thanks’ to his stellar season in Govan, there are 100% expected to be bids in for him, and with his England chances on a knife edge, if Rangers get a great offer and he gets a good offer from the Premier League, then the chances of him remaining are modest.

Rangers know this, and are planning for life without him if that comes to pass.

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Deputy Robby McCrorie (howdy pardner) has been mostly completely overlooked, and while he can’t complain at the calibre of goalie Rangers currently have between the sticks, that’s not making him feel any better about his lack of game time at the same age as Bodart.

There’s also Jon McLaughlin but the club will free him this summer, his chances of a new deal are the lowest of all those whose contracts expire this year.

Enter Bodart, and Rangers’ plan being for he and McCrorie to be competing for the jersey going forward, should Butland indeed head off down south in the summer as the club is preparing for.

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In terms of the Belgian, his numbers are not bad – 185 appearances for Liege, 45 clean sheets and 254 goals shipped. He’s not Dino Zoff but he’s good, and Rangers are potentially looking at him in the event of Butland being sold.

Would this be Robby McCrorie finally getting his chance at last too?

Possibly, but Clement is likely to want to use his own men where possible.

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Time will tell.

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