Rangers are reportedly closing in the club’s first summer signing after Levski Sofia defender José Córdoba, 22, having been a guest at Ibrox for the visit of Kilmarnock, was omitted from the Bulgarian side’s squad to face Cherno More.

There is a slight catch with the media going mental for this story;

Levksi’s season is done, they missed out on a European place and are now playing a bunch of squad players for the final few matches for the very purpose of saving their asset players in case of sales.

And in fairness, Córdoba is an asset player who is well-known to be making the switch to Govan this summer, with the price said to be around £1.5M – his market value is about £3.5M but Levski have conceded his exit and with his being in his final year, he won’t fetch the full amount.

The stopper, a Panama international, is the first stage of manager Philippe Clement’s massive summer rebuild, the acquisition of a promising young player with big resale value, the notion he could be a £10M defender or better if he hits the ground running at Rangers and develops as well as club bosses hope.

10 caps for his country is nothing to sniff at either.

But the deal needs to be done first, and Córdoba is definitely eking in on a move to Rangers.

The one thing we are a bit puzzled by is how this got to such an advanced stage before the transfer window is even open – it’s not illegal to approach a club between transfer windows, but of course we’re in May, not June, and the Panamanian has already been to Ibrox.

We’re sure it’s all above board, and the 6ft 3 stopper will sign as soon as the window opens.

And that will mark the beginning of the summer incomings.

He will be far from the last.