Rangers are back in strong contention for their first serious marquee signing of the summer, in the form of departing West Ham star Ben Johnson.

The 24-year-old right back, who becomes a lucrative free agent this month, has been on Rangers’ radar for quite a while as a quality replacement for current incumbent James Tavernier, and while Johnson’s current wages are only around £20,000, Rangers are confident the club can afford his higher demands with the departure of so many players lately.

It is anticipated Johnson will seek around double his present numbers, plus the signing on fee, so he won’t be pennies, but if Rangers want Rangers-level players they’re not going to grow on trees.

It has also been reported that Leeds United are interested, which would be strong competition for Philippe Clement given they’re in a superior division and seek promotion next season, having only just fractionally missed out last campaign.

As for Johnson, he’s top grade, having boasted a peak market value around £12M-£15M, he also has around 70 Premier League appearances and 12 in the Europa League.

As for as Premier League-level players go, Johnson would be absolutely perfect for Rangers, and information is, as we said before, that negotiations are very much on for him.

The question is if he wants to come to Scotland. To Ibrox.

As we’ve said before, we lack finance, we’re not guaranteed Champions League, and our domestic league is terrible.

We lack the carrots to offer that other clubs in better leagues have, or that sides guaranteed UCL group spot have.

That said, if we can get this one over the line, it really would be a massive statement of intent from Philippe Clement and Nils Koppen about what our ambitions are, and it would be a gigantic leap up from Jefte.

But it has to actually happen first.