Ibrox Noise understands Rangers will not be pursuing any deal for Hearts’ Claudio Braga after Lyon emerged front-runners.
The Portuguese striker, 26, had a standout season under Derek McInnes’ guidance last season. He had been a potential target for Rangers’ new manager. He was of course standing out as a result of McInnes’ management and owes his old manager a lot, but money speaks.
Ibrox Noise reported many weeks ago that Hearts had placed an £8M-£10M pricetag on their striker’s head, with many outlets since confirming the same figure.
Lyon
However, with the French giants’ quick-thinking, it looks like they are set to steal the lead on securing the hitman this window.
Rangers have decided that the pricetag is not worth the return. Having learned from the mistakes of the likes of Youssef Chermiti and Bojan Miovski, big-price investments have to be worth that risk.
Braga had one single season as a top striker in Scotland. But it wasn’t under the pressure of Ibrox and without any experience of winning.
He knows the SPL, but that isn’t enough – look at Macedonian Miovski.
As such, it appears Rangers have called time on any move for Braga. They will give Lyon the stage to get their man.
Carrot
Put simply, with Lyon being Ligue 1, they can offer higher wages and a higher level of competition. They are also a big club themselves. Lyon can offer 60,000 fans every other week and Rangers can’t deliver that.
They also have Champions League football next season assuming they get past two qualifying rounds.
In short, Rangers can’t compete with what they’d offer, and have withdrawn from contention.
Lyon are likely to match Hearts’ asking price as well. Rangers would try to get some clauses and concessions on it.
So this one looks dead in the water.