It has now been doubly ‘officially’ confirmed that James Tavernier is to leave Rangers for Trabzonspor after Heart and Hand added this deal is close to completion following Fabrizio Romano announcing the initial proposal then fee rejection by Rangers.

Heart and Hand are an unofficial club source, maybe not as close to the action as they once were, but their finger is generally on the pulse and they are fairly trusted and their main man David Edgar has confirmed the deal is closing in:

“Think this will be concluded reasonably quickly, think all parties are keen on it and there isn’t a huge distance between clubs.”

He’s careful to use the word ‘think’ because nothing is ever guaranteed in life, certainly not a Rangers transfer, which is of course a mistake Ibrox Noise regularly makes, but hey ho.

Back on topic, Tavernier is leaving if the two clubs can sort out the fee, and we highly doubt the Turks will dump the deal based on what amounts to around €800,000 deficit.

Tav hasn’t taken an inch part in training, the manager has been telling outright lies about his situation with the same ‘injury’ that many departing players have had in lieu of a transfer.

His exit has been on the cards for quite a while, the Saudi interest getting his attention but his lack of desire to move to the Middle East put paid to that.

No Premier League sides will touch him, and while there’s some claims about Championship sides, Tav is 32 and would be absolutely ruined defensively even at the level of England’s second tier.

He’s more than happy with Turkey, and we’d imagine the whole thing will be announced soon.

There is word today that Trabzonspor are going to submit a second bid to Rangers, to shore up the fee, and that will be that.

We await this in due course.